Home Office When Sharing the Rent

Hi June,

I'm a graphic designer living in Brooklyn, NY. I entered the indie world last October. I'm very green in the indie world and your book has proven to be quite helpful.

My question concerns deducting home office expenses when living in a rental unit with roommates. How does one determine the total area of his home? In my scenario: • 3 roommates live in a rented apartment, each with their own bedroom. • We share a common space that consists of the living room, kitchen, etc... • I pay a higher portion of the total rent for the largest bedroom, half of which I use exclusively for business. My concern is correctly determining the total area of my home for the IRS form. What I think is fair is: Area of my bedroom + 33% of shared space = Total area of my home Will that fly with the IRS? Do I have to include the entire common area even though the 3 of us pay for it?

Thank you,
Sunil


Dear Sunil,

Your way is fine. It gives you a little bit extra deduction. But more easily understood by an IRS guy whose math may not be top notch is to take the total area of all the common space as well as your room as your total square feet of living space and then take your office area.

More posts on home office are here home office or studio (24) .

-- June