Writers can deduct home office space on taxes

Most indie writers work out of their home rather than rent or own office space. Fortunately, expenses related to running a self-publishing/writing business out of your home can be deducted on Federal income taxes.

You must meet a couple of basic requirements, however.

First, your work space must be dedicated to work purposes. Because of this, if you use your laptop on the kitchen table, you don’t qualify for a deduction, but if you have a separate room or nonpartitioned area set off in your home with desk and chair where you type, you’re good. A section of your home where you only keep copies of your book to mail to prospective buyers doesn’t count (though you can store those books in your office space with a desk and chair and still qualify).

Secondly, your home space must be the primary place you conduct your business, that is write, format and upload books. If you do most of your writing at your boyfriend’s house and accept mail there for your business, you can’t claim a deduction, as you are using a different space than your home to do most of your business.

So what if you do most of your writing at a coffee shop or library? So long as you have a work space at home dedicated to your business, receive mail for your business at your home, and do some of your work from that dedicated work space, you’ll likely be fine. After all, not all businesses (such as a carpenter or plumber) do the bulk of their work at their home though they may use it as their base of operations, such as setting up appointments, keeping their accounts, and working on small projects.

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