Question Please - Home Office Deduction

[jeffk8]

What is the name of your state? Alabama

Dear Members - I work for a not-for-profit State & Federal granted agency that maintains schools for chidren, day care, WIC, health, low income housing, food pantries, engergy assistance and other human services programs.

I maintain, repair, determine and order computer products for the agency. I train and write manuals and am well over worked. For the past 5 years, I have had an office and workshop at home for the agencies benefit because I am central to other counties and cities that I must support and can get to them easier than if I were located at a particular component.

I do all the computer repairs at home, receive shipments, ship products, order products and house computers that must be repaired. I repair the items here and stock the parts. All correspondence to vendors and staff are done from my location, as well as all other communications. Purchase orders and requisitions are generated and faxed from here.

I have read documents concerning Home Office and what confuses me is the Income Producing aspect. Our agency is not Income Producing, but the work performed saves grant monies to go to other grants and reduces grant costs by performing repairs by third-party contractors. Actually there are more job functions I perform. I have almost thought it a mistake to work from home because I wind up working very long hours. I have to support more than 100 workstations and all the computer components, peripherals, software support and communications.

There are no "clients" that visit like a regular business, but some components and staff will pick up and drop off items that need repair if I do not pick them up and take them back to their offices.

I know in my heart that every aspect of my home office is truly a home office, but some qualifications concerning home office deductions confuse me.

I would apprecaite any feed back from you to let me know if I am justified in taking the deduction.

Thank you,

Jeff

[Snipes5]

A home office is a location in your home that is used regularly and exclusively to conduct business. If you are otherwise employed, your office needs to be for the benefit of your employer.

The "income producing" aspect refers to the fact that your office should have a legitimate business purpose, rather than a sham writeoff where the work done there only produces a loss on a sole proprietorship.

If you are doing company work, receiving company-owned parts, etc, as you describe, you have a legitimate home office.

Just make sure any space used as office is used ONLY for an office. The IRS is much more stringent on the "regular and exclusive" portion of the law than they are about anything else.

Snipes

[abezon]

There's one more requirement -- your employer cannot supply you with an office from which you may do your work. The fact that you can't get everything done during regular working hours is irrelevant. If you have an office, you can't deduct a home office.