Home Office Deduction Denied by Turbo Tax

[hpguy1]

TurboTax won't allow our home office deduction this year with a reason of zero or negative profit.  We are puzzled because we have a net profit as calculated by Turbo tax.  We didn't have this problem before in previous years.

[AnnetteB6 · Accepted solution]

The percent of business use of the home office is missing from the calculation and therefore the result is that the calculation shows a loss for your business.

When you go through the Federal Review of your return, this error will be flagged and you can enter the amount on that review screen.  The amount to enter is the percentage of time that you spend in your home office making money for your business.  If all of your time is spent working in your home office for your business, then enter 100%.

You can also make the correction to the calculation using Forms Mode.  Use these steps:

• Click Forms on the top row of TurboTax.
• Go to Form 8829.
• Scroll to the section titled Line 8 Calculation Smart Worksheet and enter your percent of business use of the home office on line B.
• Click Step-by-Step at the top of the screen to go back to the input screens.

[hpguy1]

Your advice works.  That's wonderful.  Learned something new about TurboTax.  Really appreciate it.