Home Office Tax Advantage 


Cost of Setting Up Home Office

Setting up your own home office has its own entailing costs that you have to shoulder. With that said, you really need to invest on the equipments you need to run a business from home. After all, this investment has the potential of bringing in profits, depending on how well you run your business. 

Financial handling and management is vital in every business. Therefore, many are looking at ways in which to possibly reduce expenses of having to put up your own home office. Here are some tips:

•	When shopping for basic office supplies, look for possible rebates. You can get major savings from this.
•	Sign up for customer loyalty programs so you can qualify for discounts when shopping at a particular office supply store.
•	Ask your family or friends if they have any office equipment that they no longer use. 
•	Join garage sales. You can get useful equipments in good working condition at a bargain price.

Tax Benefits of Running a Home Office

With the many expenditures to shoulder in setting up and running your home office, finding a reliable means to create savings would really boost your financial situation. Self-employed individuals who run their own home office can exploit a few tax benefits they can avail of. This is done to help alleviate all the expenses that a self-employed individuals had to shoulder in order to get the business running. This tax code was done in an effort to encourage entrepreneurship and for individuals who are jobless to engage in home businesses.

Your tax benefits begin with the recognition that your home office is a form of business expense. However, you can qualify only from the tax deduction if you were able to show government officials that you spend a substantial amount of your time working at home in order for it to be recognized as a working space. Then, a given percentage is deducted from costs incurred with running business at your home. 

Requirements for Tax Deduction 

There are two basic tax requirements that a self-employed individual must meet in order to qualify for the tax benefits of running a home office. 

1.	A given space within your house, known as your home office, solely for business purposes.
2.	You must be able to establish the fact that you use your home office as the principal place where you conduct business. You must use your home office for either one of two things: meeting clients or customers, or you produce a separate structure in your house for business and work. 

Taking Advantage of your Benefits

Since the savings potential for having your home office tax deduction approved offers you major financial benefits, it is important that you need to meet the following factors. These are essential in providing your home office's validity as a business operation.

•	Identify the exact measurements of your entire home office space. This is taken into account by tax officials in determining exactly how much of your tax percentage is deducted.
•	Make sure to have your business licensed by registering a business name and ID. It certifies that your business operates legally and is recognized by law. 
•	Secure home office equipments.  If you have transactions within your home office, make sure you have receipts as proof for that.
•	If possible, have a separate phone line you use at your home office strictly for business purposes. 
