How do you calculate the expense of a home office for a tax filing?

Answer by  pabraham83 (14)

The way to calculate is to come up with a ratio of the square footage of your home office space to the square footage of the house. Take that ratio times your utilities, mortgage interest, property taxes and other expenses related to the home, and that's your home office expenses.

Answer by  MILLENNIUM (89)

To calculate allowable home office expenses you compute the percentage of square feet you use for your office to the total square feet of your house. You then apply that percentage to expenses of maintaining your household (utilities, insurance, maintenance, water, depreciation). An IRS publication outlines allowable expenses.

Answer by  AnnVandeVanter (21)

Compute the ratio of your home office square footage to the entire home square footage. Apply that ratio to mortgage interest, real estate taxes, insurance, etc.

Answer by  richmiller3214 (138)

First you need to figure out how much of the total square footage of the home is used for business (example: 25%). Then use the percentage of total work space to calculate the same percentage for each bill paid to operate, such as rent, electric, gas, phone or internet.