If You Work From Home, Here Are Some Tax Deductions You Need to Know About

While there are a lot of pros to working from home,  the bad part is that it can cost you plenty. From high-speed internet, staying in touch with clients & a fancy office chair. Expenses can often get the better of you. But there’s some good news – the government offers tax deductions to those who work out of their homes. Find out what you could do if you’re eligible to work from home.

Home Office

A home office should make up 10% of your home’s area. If so, you can deduct 10% of the following:

  1. Rent 
  2. Utilities 
  3. Mortgage interest.
  4. Homeowners insurance.
  5. Property taxes.
Travel Costs

If you need to visit a client or attend a conference, you can deduct your airfare or mileage. All travel expenses you incur including lodging, parking fees & other travel-related expenses can be deducted.

 Meals & Entertainment

Always be careful with this category, since it can be tempting to write off business meetings that aren’t strictly business related.

Got a coffee meeting with a new client? Deductible.

Spending 15 minutes talking business during a five-course dinner with friends? Not so much.

As a rule, the IRS suggests limiting your deductions to 50% of business-related “entertainment” costs, so try to keep things modest. For more guidance, you can check out the 2018 update from the IRS.

Marketing and Advertising

If you happen to attend a trade show, send out flyers or buy business cards, this counts as marketing, so it is deductible.  The same can be applied in connection with a personal website that advertises your services.