Can I claim home office deduction for kitchen remodel expenses as self-employed?

I'm self-employed and have a dedicated home office that makes up about 10% of my home's total square footage. This year I spent around $65K on a complete kitchen renovation, but the kitchen isn't related to my business operations at all. I'm wondering if I should include these kitchen renovation costs in my home office deduction? (If I did, it would be calculated at 10% = $6.5K) Also, since I'm using the actual expense method instead of the simplified option for my home office deduction, does this kitchen remodel increase my home's cost basis from last year when calculating depreciation for my business use? (It seems like in TurboTax I'd need to manually adjust Form 8829 to increase the cost basis by $65K.) I'm definitely not looking to take any inappropriate deductions - I just want to make sure I handle the depreciation correctly to avoid complications when I eventually sell the house. (Looking back, the simplified method probably would've been easier, but I've been using the actual expense method in previous years.

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18 comments

Javier Hernandez

•8M

Generally, improvements that benefit your entire home like a kitchen remodel can be partially deductible for your home office, but you need to be careful here. Since your home office takes up 10% of your home, you could potentially deduct 10% of expenses that benefit the entire house. However, the kitchen renovation would only be depreciable (not fully deductible in one year) as a home improvement. This would be depreciated over 39 years for business property. So you'd only get a very small deduction each year. For your cost basis question - yes, major improvements like your kitchen remodel would increase the overall cost basis of your home. This affects both the business portion depreciation calculations and will be beneficial when you eventually sell. You're right that you'd need to adjust this in TurboTax by updating the cost basis on Form 8829.

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Javier Hernandez

•8M

Yes, that math is correct. At 10% business use, a $65K kitchen remodel would yield approximately $166 per year in depreciation deductions (calculated as $65K ÷ 39 years × 10%). While the annual deduction amount is relatively small, it's still worth tracking for two important reasons. First, these small deductions add up over time. Second and more importantly, properly adjusting your home's cost basis now will prevent potential tax complications when you sell the house in the future, as you'll need to account for any depreciation taken on the business portion.

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LunarLegend

•8M

After struggling with this exact issue last year, I found an amazing tool that helped me figure out what home improvements I could claim for my home office. I was using TurboTax too but kept getting confused about what to include in my cost basis. I found https://taxr.ai which has this incredible feature where you can upload receipts and documents for your home improvements and it tells you exactly what percentage is deductible for your home office and how to properly calculate the depreciation. Saved me hours of research and probably prevented a costly mistake!

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LunarLegend

•8M

The tool analyzes your documents and calculates the exact depreciation schedule based on the type of improvement. For bathroom renovations, it would determine the appropriate recovery period and generate the correct annual deduction amounts over the full depreciation timeline. It's especially helpful for mixed-use spaces where only a percentage is business-related. I was skeptical at first too, but it's actually CPA-verified information. What really helped me was that it explained WHY certain improvements qualified and others didn't, with specific IRS references. I've been audited before using other services, and the documentation this provides is exactly what you need if questions ever come up. It's not just calculating numbers but providing the reasoning behind them.

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Isabella Oliveira

•8M

I was totally skeptical about taxr.ai when I first saw it mentioned here, but I gave it a try with my home office situation. My setup is more complicated - I converted part of my garage into an office (about 15% of my house) and then did both bathroom and kitchen updates. The tool immediately flagged that my garage conversion could be depreciated differently than the general home improvements! It saved me from making a costly mistake and explained exactly how to handle each type of improvement on my tax forms. The guidance was super clear and I'm actually getting a bigger deduction than I initially thought I would!

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Ravi Patel

•8M

If you're getting stuck on this or need clarification from the IRS directly, I highly recommend using Claimyr. Last year I had a similar home office deduction question about some property improvements and spent DAYS trying to get through to the IRS. Used https://claimyr.com and got a callback from an actual IRS agent in about 15 minutes who walked me through exactly how to handle it. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c - literally saved me hours of hold time and frustration.

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Ravi Patel

•8M

It uses an automated system that navigates the IRS phone tree and waits on hold for you. When an agent finally answers, you get an immediate call connecting you directly to that agent. It's not a separate line or special access - they're just handling the hold time for you. I was shocked when I got the call back so quickly too. From what I understand, they have technology that constantly redials and navigates the system efficiently. The IRS doesn't know or care that a service got you through - once you're connected, it's just you talking directly to an IRS representative. I asked detailed questions about home office improvements and got clear guidance that saved me from making mistakes on my return.

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Omar Zaki

•8M

I was completely wrong about Claimyr. After my skeptical comment, I was desperate to talk to someone at the IRS about my home office deduction questions (similar to yours with a bathroom remodel), and I reluctantly tried it. Got a call back from an actual IRS agent in about 20 minutes. The agent confirmed that yes, I could take a partial deduction for my bathroom renovation based on my home office percentage, but it had to be depreciated over 39 years. She also helped me understand exactly how to document it properly. Would have waited 4+ hours otherwise - totally worth it.

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CosmicCrusader

•8M

Here's what I learned when I dealt with this last year: Any capital improvement to your entire house (like a kitchen remodel) should technically increase your home's basis. For your home office, you can only depreciate the business percentage of that improvement (10% in your case) over 39 years for residential property converted to business use. HOWEVER - be very careful. If you're planning to sell within the next few years, taking these depreciation deductions can complicate things. When you sell, you'll have to recapture any depreciation taken on the business portion of your home, which is taxed at 25% (ouch!). Sometimes it's not worth the small annual deduction.

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CosmicCrusader

•8M

For a repair like replacing a broken dishwasher, you're absolutely right - it would be handled differently than a full remodel. A repair maintains your property in good working condition without adding value or extending its life, so it would be fully deductible in the current year (at your business percentage of 10%). Capital improvements like remodeling that add value or extend the useful life of your property must be depreciated over time. This distinction is important because immediate deductions for repairs can provide better tax benefits in the short term than the small annual depreciation deductions for improvements.

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