Can I Deduct DIY Home Repair Costs for My Home Office on Taxes?

I run a small marketing consultancy through my LLC and have been claiming the standard 20% deduction for my home office (basically that's the percentage of my home that the office takes up). I've been deducting that portion of my mortgage and utilities on Schedule C. I'm wondering about home repairs though. My roof needed some major work recently and I got quotes from several contractors. The lowest one was still over $14k which seemed absolutely insane to me. I ended up doing all the work myself over a couple weekends, only paying about $3k for materials. Since I can deduct 20% of regular home expenses for my office space, can I somehow deduct 20% of what the labor would have cost me if I'd hired someone? Like, can I calculate a reasonable labor cost even though I didn't actually pay myself for the work? Or can I only deduct 20% of the actual materials I purchased? I know I'm saving money by DIYing, but it feels like I'm missing out on a legitimate business deduction since the repair benefits my home office too.

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18 comments

Ella Russell

•8M

You're on the right track with your understanding of home office deductions, but there's a key distinction here. When it comes to DIY repairs, the IRS only allows you to deduct the actual expenses you incurred - which in your case would be the materials cost. Unfortunately, you can't deduct the value of your own labor. The IRS doesn't recognize the "opportunity cost" or what you would have paid someone else to do the work. They only recognize actual expenses paid out. So yes, you can deduct 20% of the $3k you spent on materials (assuming that's the percentage of your home used for business), but you can't deduct anything for the labor you provided yourself. This is similar to how you can't deduct the "value" of your time spent working in your business - you can only deduct actual expenses paid to others or yourself as formal compensation.

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Ella Russell

•8M

That's a common frustration, but the tax code is designed around actual expenses, not the value of services you provide to yourself. The IRS views it as you can't pay yourself as a contractor of your own home. No legitimate workarounds exist for this specific situation. If you were to "hire" yourself and pay yourself for the labor, you'd just be creating income you'd have to report elsewhere, negating any benefit. The best approach is to focus on maximizing all your legitimate business deductions elsewhere on your Schedule C.

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Gavin King

•8M

After reading these comments, I wanted to share something that helped me with a similar situation. I used taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) when I was trying to figure out deductions for my home-based graphic design business. I had done some repairs to my workspace and was confused about what I could claim. Their system analyzed my expenses, receipts, and business structure and gave me personalized guidance on exactly what percentage of my home repairs qualified as legitimate business expenses. It even helped me understand the difference between repairs (fully deductible based on business %) and improvements (which must be depreciated). Saved me from making some mistakes that might have triggered an audit.

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Gavin King

•8M

It's different from an accountant because it uses AI to analyze your specific documents and situation, so you get personalized advice without the hourly fees. You upload your documents, and it identifies potential deductions based on your specific situation. It's not just generic advice. Yes, it absolutely handles complex scenarios like yours with multiple income streams and property types. I've seen people use it for much more complicated situations involving multiple businesses, rental properties, and investment income. It's designed to handle the nuances between different types of tax situations.

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Eleanor Foster

•8M

Just wanted to follow up here - I decided to give taxr.ai a try with my complicated tax situation (home office plus DIY repairs on a rental property). Seriously impressed with the results. The system immediately identified that I could separate my rental property repairs differently from my home office repairs. For the rental, I could deduct 100% of material costs for repairs (not improvements), while my home office was limited to the business percentage. It even suggested documenting my DIY work with before/after photos and keeping a log of hours worked in case of audit - something neither my previous accountant nor tax software had mentioned. Found about $3,200 in deductions I would have missed otherwise!

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Lucas Turner

•8M

If you're really struggling with getting answers about home office deductions like this, I'd recommend calling the IRS directly. They have specialists who can give you the exact rules. I know, I know—getting through to the IRS seems impossible. I tried for weeks last year with a similar question. That's when I found https://claimyr.com - they have this service where they basically wait on hold with the IRS for you and then call you when an actual agent is on the line. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c I was skeptical, but I got connected to an IRS agent in about 45 minutes instead of spending hours on hold myself. The agent clarified exactly what was deductible for my home office repairs that I did myself.

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Lucas Turner

•8M

They don't advertise their pricing publicly, but I found it very reasonable considering the time it saved me. Much cheaper than having my accountant make the call, which was my other option. The IRS agent I spoke with was actually quite helpful. They walked me through the specific rules for my situation with DIY repairs on my home office. They explained that while I couldn't deduct my own labor, I could properly document the business percentage of materials and even explained how certain types of repairs vs. improvements would be treated differently. Way more specific than what's on their website.

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Anna Stewart

•8M

I have to eat my words about Claimyr. After my skeptical comment, I decided to try it myself since I had a question about home office deductions that I couldn't get a straight answer on. The service actually worked exactly as advertised! I got a call back in about an hour, and there was an actual IRS representative on the line. No more waiting on hold for 2+ hours or getting disconnected. The IRS agent clarified that for my situation (I also did some DIY repairs), I could deduct the business percentage of actual expenses but not my labor. However, she gave me specific guidance on categorizing certain expenses as repairs vs. improvements, which makes a big difference in how they're deducted. This was personalized advice I couldn't find anywhere online.

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Layla Sanders

•8M

You're right that if the handyman LLC only did work for your primary business, it could definitely look suspicious. The arrangement works better if you're legitimately doing handyman work for other clients too. You'd need to charge market rates to all clients including your own business, keep separate books, maintain proper insurance, and fulfill all requirements of a legitimate business. It's definitely not a simple workaround and probably not worth it just for occasional home repairs.

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