Just realized I was deducting my home office floor space wrong for 3 years

I was just using my bedroom size and calling it my office until a tax prep friend asked me to measure the actual desk area. Turns out you're supposed to measure the dedicated workspace only, not the whole room. I over-deducted about 400 square feet across 2021 to 2023. Has anyone else gotten tripped up by the exclusive use rule for home offices?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_elizabeth19d ago

Wait was your prep friend saying you need to measure just the desk footprint or the actual floor space the desk sits on? Trying to figure out if I've been doing this wrong too.

michael80319d ago

My CPA buddy told me the IRS actually looks at home office deductions more carefully if you claimed a big space during the pandemic years. Might want to double check if you need to amend those returns.

sandragrant18d ago

Huh, so your friend said the desk footprint itself? That sounds nuts to me, wouldn't you still need floor space for your chair and to actually move around?