Free tool · No signup
If you're self-employed and you work from home, the IRS lets you deduct part of your housing costs — and you can pick whichever of two methods gives you the bigger write-off. This figures both at once and tells you which one wins.
Nothing you type leaves your browser. This is an estimate, not tax advice — confirm your deduction with a CPA or enrolled agent.
If you're self-employed and you run your business from home, a slice of your housing costs becomes a legitimate business expense. The catch is the qualifying rule: the space has to be used regularly and exclusively for work. A spare bedroom that's only ever your studio qualifies; the kitchen table where you also eat dinner does not. Get that part right and the deduction is one of the most valuable ones a freelancer has — it lowers both your income tax and your self-employment tax.
There are two ways to size it, and you may choose whichever is larger in any given year:
The simplified method is exactly what it sounds like: $5 for every square foot of office space, capped at 300 square feet, so a maximum of $1,500. No receipts, no math beyond multiplication. The regular (actual-expense) method takes real work to compute but usually wins for anyone with meaningful rent or a mortgage: you find your business-use percentage (office square footage divided by your home's total square footage) and apply it to your actual yearly housing costs — rent or mortgage interest, property tax, utilities, insurance, and upkeep. This calculator runs both and surfaces the bigger number, so you never leave money on the table by defaulting to the easy method.
Because the simplified method is capped at $1,500, anyone whose business-use percentage times their real housing costs clears that ceiling is better off itemizing. A freelancer in a $2,000-a-month apartment using 10% of it for work is already at roughly $2,400 on the regular method — well past the simplified cap. But if your housing is cheap or your office is large relative to a small home, the flat $5 per square foot can come out ahead, and it's far less paperwork. The only way to know is to compute both, which is the whole point of this tool.
The home office deduction generally can't be larger than the net profit of the business it supports — you can't use it to manufacture a loss. With the regular method any unused amount can usually be carried forward to a future year; with the simplified method it's simply lost. This calculator shows the deduction you've earned from your space and costs; whether you can use all of it this year depends on your business's profit, which is a conversation for your tax preparer.
Whichever gives the larger deduction — and you can switch year to year. The simplified method ($5 per square foot, max $1,500) wins on paperwork; the regular method usually wins on dollars once you have real rent or mortgage interest, because it applies your business-use percentage to your actual housing costs. This calculator computes both so you can just take the bigger one.
A space you use regularly and exclusively for your business — most often a dedicated room, but it can be a clearly defined area. "Exclusively" is the strict part: a desk in a guest room that doubles as a guest room generally doesn't qualify, while a room that's only ever your office does. It also has to be your principal place of business (where you do your main work or administrative tasks).
Yes. Renters often do better than owners on the regular method, because your full rent is an eligible housing cost (along with utilities, renters insurance, and upkeep) and you apply your business-use percentage to all of it. Owners deduct mortgage interest and property tax rather than the whole payment.
Yes — and that's a big reason the deduction is worth claiming. As a Schedule C business expense it reduces your net profit, which is the figure both income tax and the 15.3% self-employment tax are calculated on. So the true saving is larger than the income-tax figure shown here. Run your profit through the Self-Employment Tax Calculator to see that side.
Generally no. The home office deduction is for the self-employed (and certain business owners) who report on Schedule C. If you're a remote employee receiving a W-2, you usually can't deduct your home office on your federal return, even if your employer requires you to work from home. This tool is built for freelancers and the self-employed.
No. Every calculation runs entirely in your browser — nothing you type is sent to a server or stored. The link in your address bar updates so you can bookmark or share a scenario, but it only contains the numbers you chose.
Keep going
See the 15.3% SE tax on your profit — which this deduction helps shrink.
Build taxes, time off, and expenses into the hourly rate you charge.
Check a project's true effective rate after expenses before you say yes.