(1888PressRelease)
March 14, 2008 - Rodman & Rodman, P.C., Certified Public Accountants and Business Strategists catering to small and medium sized companies throughout New England, has outlined the criteria for eligibility as well as the specific business expense deductions that may be made.
Rodman & Rodman advises taxpayers who are looking to deduct home office expenses that they must meet any of the three criteria below:
• Principal place of business. You're entitled to home office deductions if you use your home office, exclusively and on a regular basis, as your principal place of business. Your home is considered your principal place of business if it satisfies either a "management or administrative activities" test, or a "relative importance" test. To satisfy the management or administrative activities test, you must use your home office for administrative or management activities of your business and meet certain other requirements. You meet the relative importance test if your home office is the most important place where you conduct your business, in comparison with all the other locations where you conduct that business.
• Home office used for meeting patients, clients, or customers. You're entitled to home office deductions if you use your home office, exclusively and on a regular basis, to meet or deal with patients, clients, or customers. The patients, clients or customers must be physically present in the home office.
• Separate structures. You're entitled to home office deductions for a home office, used exclusively and on a regular basis for business, that's located in a separate unattached structure on the same property as your home - for example, an unattached garage, artist's studio, workshop, or office building.
The following are "home office" deductions, meaning above-the-line business expense deductions for which you may be eligible:
• The "direct expenses" of the home office – this pertains to the costs of painting or repairing the home office, depreciation deductions for furniture and fixtures used in the home office, etc.
• The "indirect" expenses of maintaining the home office - e.g., the properly allocable share of utility costs, depreciation, insurance, etc., for your home, as well as an allocable share of mortgage interest, real estate taxes, and casualty losses.
• If your home office is your "principal place of business" and you are eligible, the costs of traveling between your home office and other work locations in that business are deductible transportation expenses, rather than nondeductible commuting costs. And you may also deduct the cost of computers and related equipment that you use in the home office, without being subject to the "listed property" restrictions that would otherwise apply.
Be aware that there are amount limitations on home office deductions. The amount of your home office deduction is subject to limitations based on the income attributable to your use of the home office, your residence-based deductions that aren't dependent on use of your home for business (e.g., mortgage interest and real estate taxes), and your business deductions that aren't attributable to your use of the home office.
A certified public accountant can help you figure out how these limitations affect your home office deductions.
“Proper planning can be the key to nailing down the optimum tax treatment for your office at home expenses,” noted Steve Rodman, CPA, MST, president of Rodman & Rodman.
Rodman & Rodman, P.C.
Founded in 1961, Rodman & Rodman, P.C. provides accounting, tax and business services to small and medium-sized companies throughout New England. With a focus on strategic planning, Rodman & Rodman goes beyond traditional accounting services and takes a proactive approach when serving clients to increase, preserve and sustain clients’ financial net worth.
From business valuations, taxation, audits, fraud detection and prevention services and succession planning to a variety of accounting IT services including software selection, implementation and training, the team at Rodman & Rodman serves as comprehensive advisors to clients. For individual clients, the company offers personal advisory services such as planning for real estate transactions, obtaining financing, estate planning and retirement planning as well as planning for college education. Rodman & Rodman Certified Public Accountants are located at 3 Newton Executive Park in Newton, Mass. For more information, visit their website at www.rodmancpa.com or contact Jen Reading at (617) 965-5959.
