I work as an independent contractor out of my home. I'm filing Form 8829 (Business Use of Home), and I've measured the square footage of my office in comparison with the entire apartment. But here's my problem: I have a roommate, so I pay half the rent, and she pays half. So when it asks how much rent I've paid for the year, I'm obviously only putting in my half of the rent. But the percentage of office space is based on the ENTIRE apartment square footage (including my roommate's "half" -- her bedroom and her "half" of the living room, kitchen, etc.). So, since I'm only paying for half the apartment, am I allowed to put only half the square footage of the apartment when it asks for "total square footage"? It just doesn't seem fair otherwise. Please help!

Your home office area must be a separate area exclusively used for your home. Even your roommate does not use it.

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Originally Posted by MukatA

Your home office area must be a separate area exclusively used for your home. Even your roommate does not use it.

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Sorry, but that doesn't really answer my question. I know that the space has to be a "regular and exclusive" use of business. I got that covered. My question is about the percentage of the entire apartment that I can claim. The office is 14% of the entire apartment that costs, say, $1000 a month. But I only pay half that, $500 a month, so shouldn't the percentage of the office be a reflection of only my half of the entire apartment, making it more like 28% of $500/month, instead of 14% of $1000/month (which equals the same amount)? The way the Form 8829 is set up, I'm putting in 14% of $500, and that seems like I get the short end of the stick that way. Instead of claiming the entire apartment, I should just claim my share's worth of the apartment, but I don't know if that's legit. Hence my question.

On the Form 8829 (Business Use of Home), you claim ONLY the rent and utilities that you have paid; that is where the percentage will be cut in half.

The fact that you are paying only half of the charged rent in no way changes the dimension of your apartment.

Hey Cindy,

I'm having this same issue. Did you ever figure it out? This person never seemed to understand the math behind your question.

Hey Cindy,

I'm having this same issue. Did you ever figure it out? This person never seemed to understand the math behind your question.

If your rent is $1000 and if you have a roommate and only paying 500 then your rent is 500. Unless you pay $1000 with a check and then your roommate pays you back with cash then you can show $1000 as a rent. With IRS if you don't have proof don't even try...

If I am the IRS guy that is looking at your case I would ask you how much part of your room is for the office work if you deduct your bed , etc.
If you say 28% that will flag immediately because it is more than average.

I actually called the IRS about this before I filed my taxes. The guy I talked to didn't know, so he put me on hold for 15 minutes and then came back and said he couldn't find a definitive answer. But he said, in general with these types of things, you claim proportions (proportion of area, proportion of rent, etc.). So he actually thought I could claim just my portion of the space (100% of bedroom, 100% of office, 50% of living room, 50% of kitchen, 50% of bathroom). So that's what I did. I'm crossing my fingers the IRS guy was right and I don't get audited. If anyone else has talked to the IRS and gotten a different answer, I'd be interested to hear it.