Tom: Form 8829 and Two Business Uses

[spud912]

Hi Tom (or anyone else with experience in this),

Besides the home daycare, my husband also primarily works from home (75% of his 40 hours per week). From everything I have read (and I could be wrong here), I am fairly certain we can claim the office as used for his business work. He does not own a business (not self-employed) but works in law enforcement tracking sex offenders. Since he is on-call 24/7, his work requires that he have availability at home for work. If we can claim his business use, though, this throws a whole wrench in my form 8829 and schedule C because the time/space percentage for his work is ENTIRELY different, as are many of his deductions. Do we have to fill out a separate form, and then how do we make it come together at the end? I am SOOO confused at this point, but don't want to lose out on deductions either. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!

[Michael]

Here are some more threads related to Forum 8829

https://www.daycare.com/forum/tags.php?tag=form+8829

[spud912]

Here are some more threads related to Forum 8829

https://www.daycare.com/forum/tags.php?tag=form+8829

Thanks....I skimmed through them before posting but did not see anything about filing for 2 business uses . I have a pretty good handle on form 8829 for my business use but adding another use really throws me through a loop.

[TomCopeland]

2 businesses

Hi Tom (or anyone else with experience in this),

Besides the home daycare, my husband also primarily works from home (75% of his 40 hours per week). From everything I have read (and I could be wrong here), I am fairly certain we can claim the office as used for his business work. He does not own a business (not self-employed) but works in law enforcement tracking sex offenders. Since he is on-call 24/7, his work requires that he have availability at home for work. If we can claim his business use, though, this throws a whole wrench in my form 8829 and schedule C because the time/space percentage for his work is ENTIRELY different, as are many of his deductions. Do we have to fill out a separate form, and then how do we make it come together at the end? I am SOOO confused at this point, but don't want to lose out on deductions either. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!

Assuming your husband is entitled to claim house expenses for his business, this is how it works.
He gets to claim house expenses based on using a room or rooms exclusively for his business. Meaning, there can be absolutely no personal use of the rooms he is using for his business. Let's say he has such a room and the square footage of his business room represents 10% of the total square feet of the home. He gets to claim 10% of all house expenses as his business deduction.
Let's say that you use the other 90% of the space in your home regularly for your business. Let's say that your time % is 40%. Your time-space % is 36% (90% x 40% = 36%). You deduct 36% of the house expenses on your Form 8829.