Kondor Tax & Accounting · Resources
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Whether the room qualifies, how to measure it, the year's costs split into what counts in full and what counts for your share, and both methods side by side so you can see which is worth more. Built for self-employed people and business owners in the Portland metro area, usable anywhere.
Four questions, and every answer has to be yes. Is the space used only for the business? Is it used regularly? Is it where you run the business, or where clients come? And are you self-employed or an owner, rather than an employee on a W-2? The worksheet asks them in that order and explains what each one means in practice.
The one that trips people up is the first. A spare room that is an office qualifies. A desk in the corner of the living room does not, because the room is also a living room. It is worth being honest with yourself here, because this is the deduction a tax agency asks about first.
The simple method is five dollars per square foot, up to three hundred square feet. No bills to keep, nothing to depreciate, and no effect when you sell the house. It is the right answer for a small room in an inexpensive home.
The regular method takes your share of what the home actually costs to run — rent or mortgage interest, property tax, insurance, utilities, repairs — plus depreciation of the home itself. It is usually worth more for a larger room or an expensive home, at the price of more paper and a conversation about what depreciation does when you sell.
The worksheet shows both numbers side by side from the same inputs. Which one is right depends on your circumstances.
The test is what the work serves. Painting the office: all of it. A new furnace or a roof repair: your share, because it serves the whole house. The kitchen remodel: none of it. A new roof, as opposed to a repair, is not an expense this year at all; it is spread over years. The second tab lists the common cases.
Measure the room once. Take a photo of it once a year. Keep the utility bills, the insurance statement, the HOA invoices, the receipts for repairs, and the year-end mortgage interest and property tax statements. Note the month you started using the room for business, and the month you stopped, if either happened this year. That is the whole list, and it is on the third tab.
Internet, phone, and the furniture in the room are not part of the home office. They go on the deduction checklist for your industry instead, so nothing is counted twice.
No account, no obligation, and nothing here becomes a sales call unless you ask for one.
The download starts as soon as you press the button, with or without an email. If you leave one, we may reach out once, to ask whether the file was useful or whether you would like a hand. Tick the box and nothing is kept and nobody is contacted. Your email is never sold or shared.
Excel workbook, three tabs.
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