Can I write off a home generator on my taxes? Work from home deduction question

This is an interesting question! As someone who's dealt with similar situations, I can shed some light on this. When it comes to home-related expenses for business purposes, you need to separate personal use from business use. A whole house generator benefits both your business operations and personal living, so you can't deduct the entire cost. For your wife's home business, she can potentially deduct the business percentage of the generator on Schedule C. This would be based on the percentage of your home used exclusively for her business (square footage of her office divided by total home square footage). For your situation as a remote employee, unfortunately the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act suspended employee home office deductions through 2025. So you personally wouldn't be able to deduct any portion of the generator. An alternative approach might be for your wife's business to purchase a smaller generator specifically for her business use rather than a whole-house system.

I went through something similar when I had to work from home last year! I found this awesome AI tax tool that helped me figure out exactly what I could deduct for my home office setup. It's called https://taxr.ai and it basically analyzed all my expenses, explained what percentage was deductible, and even showed me tax code references. For my situation, I had bought a smaller backup power system (not a whole house generator) and was able to deduct the business portion. The tool helped me calculate the exact business use percentage and showed me how to document it properly. Might be worth checking out since your situation involves both a Schedule C business and remote work as an employee.

Just wanted to follow up - I tried that taxr.ai site and it was actually pretty helpful! I uploaded my documentation about the generator purchase and my home office setup, and it gave me a detailed breakdown of what portion I could deduct as a legitimate business expense. It showed me that since I use about 22% of my home for business purposes, I could deduct that same percentage of the generator cost. It also explained that I needed to depreciate it over several years rather than deduct it all at once. Saved me from making a mistake that might have triggered an audit! The tool even created a nice PDF summary I can keep with my tax records in case of questions. Definitely worth checking out if you're unsure about home office deductions.

If you're having trouble getting concrete answers from the IRS about generator deductions, I had the exact same problem last year! After being on hold for hours and getting disconnected multiple times, I finally found this service called https://claimyr.com that got me through to an actual human at the IRS in about 20 minutes. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c I was skeptical at first but desperate after waiting on hold forever. They basically call the IRS for you, navigate the phone tree, wait on hold, and then call you when they have an agent on the line. I got a definitive answer about my home office deduction questions directly from the IRS.

Ok I have to eat my words here. After my skeptical comment, I decided to try Claimyr out of desperation (been trying to resolve an issue with my refund for MONTHS). I couldn't believe it but they actually got me through to someone at the IRS in about 25 minutes. After I spent literal weeks trying on my own! The IRS agent was able to look up my specific situation about home office deductions and generator expenses and gave me clear guidance. For anyone curious - the agent confirmed that for a sole proprietor or LLC, you can depreciate a portion of a generator based on business use percentage. He recommended keeping detailed records of both the business use percentage calculation and power outage incidents to demonstrate business necessity.

Another option worth exploring is claiming the generator as a medical necessity if anyone in your household uses medical equipment that requires electricity. My neighbor has a CPAP machine and was able to get some tax benefits for their generator that way. Might be a possibility if the business deduction route doesn't pan out.

Has anyone considered solar panels with battery backup instead of a generator? We installed a system last year and there are way better tax benefits - 30% federal tax CREDIT (not just a deduction) plus possible state incentives. And then you get lower electric bills forever after.

Great discussion here! I'm a CPA and wanted to add some clarification on a few points that came up. First, for the original question about the $12,000 whole house generator - you're on the right track thinking about business use percentage, but be careful about the "exclusive use" requirement. The IRS requires that business deductions for home expenses relate to spaces used EXCLUSIVELY for business. A whole house generator benefits your entire home, so you'd need to calculate the deduction based strictly on the square footage of spaces used only for business. Also, don't forget about depreciation! A generator would be considered business equipment with a useful life of several years, so you can't deduct the full cost in year one. You'd typically depreciate it over 5-7 years using MACRS. One more thing - make sure you're documenting the business necessity. Keep records of how power outages specifically impact your business income, like the $2,500 loss you mentioned. This helps justify the expense as ordinary and necessary for your business operations. The solar + battery suggestions are interesting too - just remember that residential solar credits are separate from business deductions, so you'd need to allocate costs appropriately if the system serves both personal and business use.