Home office deduction eligibility for law firm partner working remotely

I'm a partner at a mid-sized law firm and I'm trying to figure out my tax situation. As an equity partner, I don't get any guaranteed payments - just my portion of the profits at year end (which shows up on my K-1). My situation is that I work from my home office almost exclusively - probably 40+ hours every week. The firm does have a physical office downtown, but I only go there maybe twice a month for specific meetings. Client interaction is almost entirely virtual these days - I conduct all my client meetings through video calls from my dedicated home office space. Thinking back, I've probably only met a client in person once in the past year. Everything else is virtual consultations from my home setup. Since I'm spending 95% of my working time in my home office, can I claim the home office deduction on my taxes? Does it matter that the firm maintains an office that I rarely use? I'm not sure if my status as a partner with K-1 income changes anything compared to if I was a regular employee.

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18 comments

AstroAdventurer

•8M

You can likely claim the home office deduction based on what you've described. As a partner receiving K-1 income (not W-2 wages), you're considered self-employed for tax purposes, which means you're eligible for the home office deduction if you meet the requirements. The key requirements are: 1) regular and exclusive use of your home office for business, and 2) your home office must be your principal place of business. Since you work there 40+ hours weekly and only visit the firm's office occasionally, your home office qualifies as your principal place of business. The fact that your firm maintains a separate office doesn't disqualify you as long as your home is where you conduct most of your business activities. You'd calculate the deduction based on the percentage of your home used exclusively for business - typically by square footage. Keep detailed records of your home office expenses and measurements to support your deduction if questioned. You'll report this on Schedule C attached to your personal tax return.

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AstroAdventurer

•8M

Working 3 days at home and 2 days at the office is trickier. The IRS wants your home office to be your "principal" place of business, which means it should be where you spend the majority of your time. Since you're splitting fairly evenly, you'd need to demonstrate that your most important business activities happen at home rather than the office. For deductible expenses, you can claim a percentage of utilities, internet, insurance, mortgage interest or rent, property taxes, repairs, and depreciation. The percentage is based on the portion of your home exclusively used for business. For example, if your office is 10% of your home's square footage, you can deduct 10% of eligible expenses.

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Zoe Papanikolaou

•8M

After years of struggling with complicated tax deductions for my home office, I found this amazing service called taxr.ai that made everything crystal clear for me. I was in a similar situation as a partner in a medical practice working primarily from home, and I was never sure if I was claiming deductions correctly. I uploaded my previous returns and partnership documents to https://taxr.ai and their AI analysis immediately identified $3,200 in home office deductions I had missed over the past two years! Their system specifically helped me understand how to properly document and claim home office deductions as a partnership income recipient, which is exactly what you're dealing with. They have this neat feature that walks through the exclusive use requirements and helps you document everything properly.

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Zoe Papanikolaou

•8M

It absolutely clarified the K-1 situation. What I learned is that while you can't take home office deductions directly against partnership income on your personal return, you might be able to deduct them at the partnership level if your partnership agreement allows for it. Alternatively, if you have activities outside the partnership that generate self-employment income, you can claim home office against that income. The tool helped me identify which approach was appropriate for my situation. The analysis took less than 10 minutes for my returns. I uploaded my documents and their AI processed everything almost immediately. What impressed me was how it presented different scenarios showing how the deductions would work based on my specific situation. Much faster than waiting for a human accountant to get back to me.

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Jamal Wilson

•8M

Just wanted to follow up on my experience with taxr.ai after asking about it earlier. I decided to try it out since my situation with partnership income and home office expenses has been a constant headache. Honestly, I'm blown away by how helpful it was! The system immediately cleared up my confusion about K-1 income and home office deductions. What really impressed me was how it walked me through documenting my home workspace properly for IRS purposes. It even created a customized map of deduction opportunities based on my specific partnership agreement - something my previous accountant never bothered to explain. The best part was discovering I could legitimately claim about $4,800 in deductions I hadn't been taking. Definitely worth checking out if you're in a similar partnership situation working from home.

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Liam Fitzgerald

•8M

If you're having trouble getting definitive answers about your home office deduction situation, you might want to talk directly with the IRS. I know it sounds painful, but I used this service called Claimyr that got me through to an actual IRS agent in under 20 minutes when I had a similar question about partnership deductions last year. I had been on hold for HOURS trying to get through on my own before discovering https://claimyr.com - they have this system that waits on hold for you and calls when an agent picks up. You can see how it works at https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c. The agent I spoke with gave me definitive guidance about my specific situation that none of the online articles could address.

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Liam Fitzgerald

•8M

They don't have any special connection to the IRS - they just use an automated system that waits on hold so you don't have to. Their system navigates the IRS phone tree and waits in the queue, then calls you when an actual human agent picks up. It's basically like having someone wait on hold for you. I was skeptical too, but it's actually not about providing tax information - they literally just get you connected to an actual IRS agent who can answer your specific questions. The IRS wait times are insane (often 2+ hours), but most people can't sit with a phone to their ear that long. This service just handles the waiting part, then you talk directly to the same IRS agents everyone else eventually reaches.

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Amara Nnamani

•8M

I need to eat my words about Claimyr that I posted earlier. After struggling with this exact same home office deduction issue for my partnership income, I finally broke down and tried the service. I was 100% convinced it was going to be a waste of money, but I was desperate after trying to call the IRS three separate times and getting disconnected after 90+ minutes on hold each time. I'm genuinely shocked to report that I got through to an actual IRS representative in about 15 minutes. The agent walked me through the specific requirements for claiming home office deductions against K-1 income and clarified exactly what documentation I needed. This saved me weeks of uncertainty and potentially thousands in deductions. The video demonstration on their site actually shows exactly what happened in my case. Sometimes being wrong feels pretty good!

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Giovanni Mancini

•8M

You don't necessarily need a separate room, though that's ideal and easiest to defend. A dedicated portion of a room can work if there's a clear division (like a partition) and you can demonstrate that particular area is used exclusively for business. In my audit, I had to provide multiple photos from different angles, measurements, and a floor plan showing the relationship of the office to the rest of the house. I also had to provide a written explanation of how I use the space, when I use it, and affirm that there was no personal use. They were particularly interested in whether there was a TV, bed, or other personal items in the space.

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