A growing number of people now work from home – whether they started their own business, do some freelance work on the side, work remotely for an employer or were sent home for a few months because of the coronavirus. You may be able to take a tax break for your home office expenses, but you need to follow some strict rules.
There’s a lot of confusion around the home office deduction because many remote workers who took the break in the past are no longer eligible – the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act eliminated the home office deduction for employees who work from home for an employer. But self-employed people can still take the break if their home office qualifies. “I had to explain to a client why she, as an employee, lost the deduction, and yet her husband, who was a freelancer, kept his,” says Morris Armstrong, an enrolled agent in Cheshire, Connecticut (enrolled agents are authorized to represent taxpayers in front of the IRS).
Employees who worked remotely had been…
