J.K. Lasser's Small Business Taxes 2013: Your Complete Guide to a Better Bottom Line

Special Requirements for Employees

Telecommuters take heart. If you use your home for business, you can deduct home office expenses provided your use is for the convenience of your employer. However, this is not an easy standard to satisfy. There is no hard-and-fast rule for proving that your use of a home office is for the convenience of your employer. Neither the tax law nor regulations provide any guidelines.

Your home office use is not treated as being for the convenience of your employer simply because it is appropriate or helpful to your job; there must be a real need on the part of your employer for you to use an office at home. In this age of computers, if your employer allows you to telecommute from a home office because it suits your schedule, this is not necessarily for your employer’s convenience. As long as your employer provides you with an office, there must be some other compelling reason for you to use a home office for business. Simply getting a letter from your employer that the home office use is for the employer’s convenience may not be enough to satisfy the IRS if your return is questioned. But if your employer has no office space for you to use so that telecommuting is the only arrangement feasible, then clearly such arrangement is for the convenience of the employer. Of course, there may be situations where it is not clear whether the arrangement is for the convenience of the employer. Then, factors such as office space, arrangements with other workers, ...