HELP! I'm a 100% telecommuting W2 employee & lost my home office deduction!

[Sedona]

Last edited Sun Feb 17, 2019, 08:24 PM - Edit history (1)

Yes, home office is for my employer's comvenience.

I'm real estate ops manager coordinating six agents and all the contracts & marketing of team.

I'm also licensed in three states if that helps.

I googled and see something about being a statutory employee so I can take unreimbursed employee expenses on Form 2106. Do I have to have my employer file an amended W2 to take advantage of this?

https://www.thebalancesmb.com/home-office-tax-deductions-telecommuting-3542742

It says...

If you are a telecommuting employee that is qualified to take the home office deduction, use Form 2106 to calculate the deduction and then enter it on line 21 of Schedule A (Form 1040). This means you must itemize and cannot take the standard deduction if you wish to take a home office deduction.


I think this might be beyond the H&R Block website I've been using to do my taxes for the last 10 plus years.

Should I switch and become a 1099 Independent contractor for the rest of 2019?

Do any CPAs or Realtors want a chime in and help me out here?

[at140]

1. May be the higher Standard Deduction will help

Standard Deduction for—
• Single or married filing separately, $12,000
• Married filing jointly or Qualifying widow(er), $24,000

[Sedona]

2. Nope, no help.

[Sedona]

3. Update, I've lost $13,300 in deductions and a $7300 redund.

Kicking so a CPA can see what's going on and maybe help me out.

[progree]

4. I don't quite understand -- do they not allow the deductions, or is it that itemizing deductions

does you no good, because your standard deduction (nearly doubled under the TCJA), exceeds your itemized deductions?

As an aside note, the near doubling of the standard deduction is a good thing for taxpayers, but then the main bad part is that they also took away the personal exemptions, that were $4,050 singles / $9,100 married filing jointly in 2017, which almost wiped out the increase in the standard deduction. And more than wiped it out for most taxpayers that itemized in the past.

And more than wiped it out for taxpayers that itemized both in the past and in 2018, as in my case -- the change in standard deduction didn't do me any good; meanwhile, I lost the $4,050 personal exemption so I'm out $4,050.

[Sedona]

5. The deduction is unallowed this year

but not any year before. I'm (and other telecommuters) are so screwed

[CoopersDad]

6. Did you ever get an answer? My HR Block lady said no more federal home office deductions.

But my wife's Turbo Tax advisor said if I had any side work with a 1099 I could claim some home office expenses.

What's going on?