So basically all I do is work and I get sick of looking at the same home office so sometimes I’d work in coffee shops.
I was thinking of buying a new car and doing the expenses method. I already track every single expense, business action, and mile using my own system of spreadsheets so I think it would be fairly easy to prove and document.
That being said, how would this work if I were to have a home office and an EV car as another home office that I buy a bunch of amenities for so that I can drive somewhere and just work in my car as a mobile office. EVs seem perfect since I can have some electronic use the onboard power source without having to turn on gas.
I tried searching but I don’t think people really seem to use their car much as a second remote home office. Obviously, I’ll be able to business expense all of the remote accessories I buy as an addition to the interior of the car, but how does that affect how I declare the car and the mileage used by the car? I’m assuming I can’t just decide to travel to the Grand Canyon because I felt like working there.
Am I missing something here?
EDIT: additionally, if I were in this second mobile home office and let’s say I just decided to move a mile just to change the view. Would that be business or personal mileage? I’m technically still working but the decision to move is mostly personal preference.
Unless someone has a tax case addressing this, my tax consultant brain is saying “this is not a thing” as it doesn’t seem necessary or regular, especially since you do have a home office. Unless you are meeting with a client at another location or in your car (that would be something), zero expenses related to the EV are deductible on your Schedule C.
I’m also assuming through this whole discussion you are self-employed. If you are not, this conversation is moot.
This has been litigated extensively with RVs. The bottom line is that 280A applies, and in order to deduct a home office, it must be exclusively used for business. Driving somewhere is a personal use, and therefore the entire home office is not deductible.
@Zadie
I feel like only very large RVs you could even make the argument of the desk in the hallway thing. It’s wild that this gets litigated so much when the deduction is relatively small.
Mika said: @Zadie
I feel like only very large RVs you could even make the argument of the desk in the hallway thing. It’s wild that this gets litigated so much when the deduction is relatively small.
It’s been tried. I know it’s gone to the 9th Circuit.
Mika said: @Zadie
I feel like only very large RVs you could even make the argument of the desk in the hallway thing. It’s wild that this gets litigated so much when the deduction is relatively small.
Where do you usually look up things like this? I had no idea this was a common thing even after I’ve tried to Google this particular situation.
I must have been looking it up incorrectly or was looking in the wrong place.
@Kieran
I’ll be honest, the only reason I know so much about the case law behind this is because it was part of my study materials for one of my CPA exams, as home office gets tested more precisely because there’s a lot of court cases on it.
I see absolutely 0 chance that you’ll have any success defending your situation in an audit, sorry to say.
Kieran said: @Mika
Oh yes, I definitely will just go with a typical business expense for the home office and EV after the info I have collected here.
I was just wondering if my research method was flawed.
Nah, you just happened to get lucky in that this particular deduction has been used and abused in the past, where it’s taught in regular academia. There’s another court case out there, too, of literally 1 day of personal use on the 4th of July to host a pool party disqualified it.
@Zadie
I read long ago about deducting travel trailers, and if they were installed on a permanent foundation, they could count, I believe. But as long as it’s driveable, it is not a home office. Now, that is a vague memory, and if it were my client, I’d look it up and make a note of the IRS section.