Home office deduction

[fahimaz7]

So I got off the phone with my accountant today, who proceeded to tell me that it was a horrible idea to do a home office. She stated that the most famous home office case, from an IRS perspective, was a doc who was doing billing, coding, and dictation at home. The IRS stated that since his business was to see patients, if he didn't do this at his home he couldn't take the deduction and ultimately won.

Thoughts?

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[Mman]

your accountant is providing you with better advice than you will get here. I'd listen to them. To deduct expenses for a home office, it has to be your principal place of work. I'd imagine a radiologist reading studies from home is about the only doc that could realistically qualify.

 

[freddydpt]

I teach online courses and deduct.

 

[Mman]

I teach online courses and deduct.

have you ever been audited?

I'm guessing you'd be OK in that instance since teaching a course online by definition requires you to be setup with such a space but would be interesting to see IRS interpretation of it since it should be a very small percentage of your overall income.

 

[southerndoc]

If you do a lot of consulting from home, then I would consider it. Just doing dictations, billing, charts, etc. wouldn't really qualify as it's not your principal place of business and doubtful that you use that space exclusively for business. If you store your printer in your home office and other family members print to it, then it's a bad idea.

 

[keifernny2]

If you do a lot of consulting from home, then I would consider it. Just doing dictations, billing, charts, etc. wouldn't really qualify as it's not your principal place of business and doubtful that you use that space exclusively for business. If you store your printer in your home office and other family members print to it, then it's a bad idea.

Telemedicine from a home office would be a legit deduction.


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[dpmd]

It is all about how afraid you are of an audit I guess. The home office deduction probably isn't even the shadiest thing on my taxes.

 

[TexasPhysician]

So I got off the phone with my accountant today, who proceeded to tell me that it was a horrible idea to do a home office. She stated that the most famous home office case, from an IRS perspective, was a doc who was doing billing, coding, and dictation at home. The IRS stated that since his business was to see patients, if he didn't do this at his home he couldn't take the deduction and ultimately won.

Thoughts?

Do you have 1099 income? If so, I would find a new accountant.

 

[fahimaz7]

I do have 1099 income, but again in order to legally take the deduction it needs to be your primary site of business. As an ED doc, my home office will never be my primary site of business.

 

[dpmd]

I do have 1099 income, but again in order to legally take the deduction it needs to be your primary site of business. As an ED doc, my home office will never be my primary site of business.

By definition it can be your primary site of business if you use your home office regularly and exclusively to administer or manage your business, and that substantial administration or management activities for your business are not conducted at any other fixed location.

 

[TexasPhysician]

I do have 1099 income, but again in order to legally take the deduction it needs to be your primary site of business. As an ED doc, my home office will never be my primary site of business.

The ED may be where you perform your clinical skills, but where do you schedule shifts, develop invoices, search for other contracting jobs, perform accounting tasks, keep up with CME's to continue your level of performance, etc?

 

[dpmd]

The ED may be where you perform your clinical skills, but where do you schedule shifts, develop invoices, search for other contracting jobs, perform accounting tasks, keep up with CME's to continue your level of performance, etc?

More importantly (except for those people who are sticklers for the truth), could you reasonably attest to doing such things in your home office.

 

[Information Underload]

The case referenced above was Soliman v. IRS. Soliman was an anesthesiologist worked full-time in multiple different hospitals, but he didn't have an office at any of those hospitals. He used a spare bedroom in his house for contacting patients and surgeons, maintaining billing records, preparing for treatments, and reading medical journals. The IRS ruled against him, stating it wasn't his principle place of business, stating that he couldn't use this for the home office deduction, as he was in the business of treating patients.

Congress has since widened the definition to allow for the deduction for those whose only administrative site is their home office.