Tax deduction for part-time telecommute?
I have home office as well as an office at work. I work about half of the time from home with company provided laptop. Per my telecommute agreement with my company, I need to constantly connected to company’s network via VPN when working from home and call in with my own phone in case there is tele-conf. I don’t know if worth to file 2106 for the expensens such as home office, phone, and internet access charge? I appreciate any advice.
Tags: half of the time, home office phone, internet access, laptop, tele, vpn, working from home
November 7th, 2009 at 22:37
It would be the total of Form 2106 minus 2% of your income… So figure that if there’s more in unreimbursed expenses than 2% of your AGI, then it’s worth it. But then again, do you have enough expenses to use Schedule A, If you have more than $5450 Single/ $10900 Married Joint/ $8000 Head of Household to deduct in schedule A expenses (Itemization) then it’s to your convinience to use form 2106.
November 7th, 2009 at 22:37
Your home office is only a deduction if your working from home is done for the convenience of your employer. Since they provide you an office, maybe you could go to the office every day — and the home office deduction would not be available.
Your home phone is deductible only if it is a second phone line that you use for business.
Your internet could be deductible in the percentage that your business use is to your total use or to the extent that the cost of the internet service you use for business exceeds the internet service you would buy for your personal use.
Finally in combination with your other miscellaneous itemized deductions, the deductible work-related expenses would need to exceed 2% of your adjusted gross income to generate any tax benefit.
Richard K
This advice is based upon my understanding of the tax law in effect at the time it was written as it applies to the facts described by you. See my profile for more details.