Home Office tab

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New (tax) year, new help!

Fixed Assets and UltraTax CS 2023 help is now on Help and Support. We're still moving articles, but you can find most content for the 2023 tax year there. Continue using the Help & How-To Center for tax years 2022 and older.

For 1040 clients only, use the Home Office tab of the Asset Detail dialog to enter or modify information for a home, improvements, or land.

To open this tab, perform one of the following steps.

  • If the home has already been added as an asset, select the home in the Asset List window, click the Modify button, and then click the Home Office tab.
  • If the home has not yet been added as an asset, click the Add button in the Asset List window, complete the information in the Depreciation tab, and then click the Home Office tab.

Fields & buttons

Select the home office asset type from the drop-down list and press TAB.

  • If you select Home, the fields in the Business use of a home and Allowable deductions group boxes become available.
  • If you select Improvements, the field in the Improvements group box becomes available. If you have entered two home offices, mark the appropriate Home office option to distinguish whether the asset belongs to home office #1 or #2.
  • If you select Land and you have entered two home offices, mark the appropriate Home office option to distinguish whether the asset belongs to home office #1 or #2.

Click Use simplified option to open the Simplified Home Office dialog, where you can apply the simplified home office deduction to a home.

Note: UltraTax CS does not automatically compare calculation results from the regular and simplified methods. Therefore, we recommend you review the calculation results from both methods to determine which result is better for your client.

Use the text field to change the description for the client's first home office.

If you have entered two home offices, mark the adjacent option to select home 1 when you enter land or improvements associated with the first home office. The description you enter is for informational purposes only.

Use the text field to change the description for the client's second home office.

If you have entered two home offices, mark the adjacent option to select home 2 when you enter land or improvements associated with the second home office. The description you enter is for informational purposes only.

Note: This field is available only if you have entered two home offices for this client.

Improvements group box

The field in this group box is available only if you select Improvements from the Type of home office asset field.

Use this field to enter the business use percentage for calculating current depreciation.

Business use of a home group box

The fields in this group box are available only if you select Home from the Type of home office asset field.

Enter the total area of the home (in square feet).

Enter the total area of the home used exclusively for business purposes (in square feet).

Enter the total number of hours in the year during which the home was used for day care purposes.

Enter the total number of hours in the year, if other than 8,760 (or 8,784 in a leap year).

This field displays the calculated day care business use percentage.

Enter the total area of the home used exclusively for day care.

Enter the total area of the home used partly for day care.

This field displays the calculated business use percentage.

Allowable deductions group box

The fields in this group box are available only if you select Home from the Type of home office asset field.

Enter the direct and the indirect dollar amounts for deductible mortgage interest.

Note: The applicable amounts transfer to Schedule A and Form 8829 .

Enter the direct and indirect dollar amounts for deductible mortgage insurance.

Enter the direct and indirect dollar amounts for real estate taxes.

Note: The applicable amounts transfer to Schedule A and Form 8829 .

Enter the direct and indirect dollar amounts for excess mortgage interest.

Note: The applicable amounts transfer to Schedule A and Form 8829 .

Enter the direct and indirect dollar amounts paid for insurance.

Enter the direct and indirect dollar amounts paid for rent.

Enter the direct and indirect dollar amounts for repairs and maintenance expenses.

Enter the direct and indirect dollar amounts for utilities expenses.

Enter the dollar amount for excess casualty/losses.

Enter the operating loss carryover from prior years.

From the drop-down list, choose 1 to indicate that the loss is short term or 2 to indicate that the loss is long term. Then, enter the casualty / theft loss carryover from prior years in the adjacent field.

Enter any depreciation carryover from prior years.

Enter any business expense that was not from business use.

Click this button to open the Other Expenses dialog, which you can use to enter the descriptions and direct and indirect dollar amounts for the other expenses.

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