Question

Simplified Option for Home Office Deduction

Accepted Answer

Starting in the 2013 tax year, taxpayers now have a simplified option for figuring their business use of home deduction.

Per the IRS website Simplified Option for Home Office Deduction:

Highlights of the simplified option:

Standard deduction of $5 per square foot of home used for business (maximum 300 square feet).
Allowable home-related itemized deductions claimed in full on Schedule A. (For example: Mortgage interest, real estate taxes).
No home depreciation deduction or later recapture of depreciation for the years the simplified option is used.

Note: This simplified option does not change the criteria for who may claim a home office deduction. It merely simplifies the calculation and recordkeeping requirements of the allowable deduction.

Simplified Option	Regular Method
Deduction for home office use of a portion of a residence allowed only if that portion is exclusively used on a regular basis for business purposes	Same
Allowable square footage of home use for business (not to exceed 300 square feet)	Percentage of home used for business
Standard $5 per square foot used to determine home business deduction	Actual expenses determined and records maintained
Home-related itemized deductions claimed in full on Schedule A	Home-related itemized deductions apportioned between Schedule A and business schedule (Sch. C or Sch. F)
No depreciation deduction	Depreciation deduction for portion of home used for business
No recapture of depreciation upon sale of home	Recapture of depreciation on gain upon sale of home
Deduction cannot exceed gross income from business use of home less business expenses	Same
Amount in excess of gross income limitation may not be carried over	Amount in excess of gross income limitation may be carried over
Loss carryover from use of regular method in prior year may not be claimed	Loss carryover from use of regular method in prior year may be claimed if gross income test is met in current year

Additional Information

You may choose to use either the simplified method or the regular method for any taxable year.
You choose a method by using that method on your timely filed, original federal income tax return for the taxable year.
Once you have chosen a method for a taxable year, you cannot later change to the other method for that same year.
If you use the simplified method for one year and use the regular method for any subsequent year, you must calculate the depreciation deduction for the subsequent year using the appropriate optional depreciation table. This is true regardless of whether you used an optional depreciation table for the first year the property was used in business.

Full details on the new option can be found in Revenue Procedure 2013-13.