Self-employed people must fill out a special form to claim the home office deduction. You must complete Form 8829, and then transfer the total to your Schedule C when you file your income tax return. Unfortunately, Schedule C-EZ, which is a much simpler form, can't be used if you're claiming the home office deduction. The business portion of your home mortgage interest and real estate taxes is claimed on Form 8829 and cannot be claimed again as an itemized deduction on Schedule A of your return.

Form 8829, Expenses for Business Use of Your Home

The file is in Adobe portable document format (PDF), which requires the use of Adobe Acrobat Reader.

To get a free version of Adobe Acrobat Reader software, go to the Adobe web site.

For more information, see our discussion of home office deduction tax forms.

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