Home Office Accountable Plan

Dave Danic, Director of Tax at Summit Virtual CFO by Anders, has an update about home office accountable plans. 

0:01 Hello, my name is Dave, and I'm the Director of Tax Services at Summit Virtual CFO by Anders. And a very common question we get is how someone can write off their home office.

0:14 Unfortunately, about five years ago, Congress took away the deduction for employees for writing off their home office. It's kind of a bummer.

0:24 But if you're a business owner, there is something called a home office accountable plan. And under something called an accountable plan, a business owner is allowed to write off home office expenses.

0:38 Think of it as a reimbursement plan on steroids. So, what happens is you can create a plan document and then you can set what type of employees of your company are eligible for the home office accountable plan.

0:54 Once this is happening, you can have a contemporaneous which means it's very close to when the expense incurred reimbursement arrangement where you submit your home office expenses to the company.

1:07 This is a great deal. It's a deduction for the company and it's a tax-free reimbursement to the business owner. So, what type of expenses can be included in a home office accountable plan?

1:19 Well, there's several things. There's a portion of your real estate taxes, your rent, your mortgage interest, utilities, security, repairs, maintenance, what else?

1:31 Oh, AC costs. HOA fees and even direct expenses that apply to your office, such as a plant, a lamp, or something else that helps you run your business out of your home.

1:46 So, if you are interested in seeing if a home office accountable plan is for you, please reach out to me, and we'll get you set up with the appropriate documentation, and the appropriate procedure to make sure you're following the IRS rules to make this a good deduction for your company. Thank you.