Tax Breaks for Home Businesses

Learn more about the tax breaks for home-based businesses, including the most important one, which is the home-office deduction.

Home-based businesses get tax breaks from the IRS: what kinds of tax breaks are available?

The most important tax break for home-based business owners is the home-office deduction. This deduction allows you to write off the costs of operating and maintaining the part of your home that you use for your business. You could, for example, write off a portion of your rent or mortgage, utilities, trash collection, and security system. To qualify for the home-office deduction, however, you must use that part of your home designated for business regularly and exclusively for your trade or business. Not only that, but the business part of your home must be either your principal place of business, a place where you meet or deal with customers in the normal course of your trade or business, or a separate structure (not attached to your home) that you use in connection with your trade or business.

In addition to the home-office deduction, you're also allowed to write off the normal costs of doing business, just as any other kind of business can. Depending on the nature of your business, this could include such things as computers, office supplies, retirement plans, business travel, auto expenses, and much more. Read more about these in Ordinary and Necessary Business Expenses. Consult with an accountant or tax advisor to learn more about how these tax advantages could apply to you and to your business.

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