How do I handle Home Office deductions after moving states midyear? Need help with recording 2 offices!

You actually don't need two Schedule Cs unless you have two different businesses. The Schedule C is for reporting income and expenses for a single business, not for each location where you conducted that business. Since you moved midyear but continued the same contract work, you'll file just one Schedule C and combine the home office deductions from both locations. For the actual home office deduction calculation on Form 8829, you'll need to do separate calculations for each home and then combine the results. If you're using the regular method (actual expenses), you'll need to calculate the business percentage for each home separately. For example, if your first home office was 10% of that home and your second home office was 15% of that home, you'd apply those percentages to the respective expenses for each time period. For state tax purposes, you'll likely need to file part-year resident returns in both states and allocate your income based on how long you lived in each state.

I went through something similar last year and found taxr.ai really helpful for my complicated tax situation. I also moved mid-year with home offices in both locations and was getting different answers everywhere I looked. I uploaded my previous tax returns and some photos of my office spaces to https://taxr.ai and their AI analyzed everything and gave me step-by-step instructions specific to my situation. They explained exactly how to handle multiple home offices on one Schedule C and even showed me how to properly document everything in case of an audit. Turns out I was massively underclaiming deductions in previous years because I was afraid of making mistakes!

I wanted to follow up on my skeptical comment about taxr.ai. I decided to try it after struggling with this exact same issue (moved cross-country in July with home offices in both places). The guidance was surprisingly detailed and actually saved me over $1,200 in deductions I would have missed! The system showed me exactly how to handle the home office deduction allocation between states, even accounting for different utility rates and expenses in each location. It also provided specific documentation requirements for both home offices to protect me in case of an audit. This was way more helpful than the generic advice I got from the tax software I was using.

If you're still having trouble with your tax software or getting conflicting information, you might need to speak directly with an IRS representative. I was in a similar situation last year and kept getting different answers from online resources. I used https://claimyr.com to get through to an actual IRS agent without spending hours on hold. You can see how it works in this demo: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c. They basically wait on hold for you and call you back when an agent is on the line. I was able to confirm exactly how to handle my multiple home offices and the agent even emailed me the specific IRS publication sections that applied to my situation.

I have to eat my words about Claimyr. After my skeptical comment, I decided to try it since I was desperate to get an answer about my own home office situation before filing. The service actually worked exactly as advertised - I got a call back in about 40 minutes with an IRS representative on the line. The agent confirmed that I should use one Schedule C with both home offices listed, and recommended I attach a statement explaining the mid-year move and providing details about both office spaces. She also warned me that some tax software might not handle this correctly and suggested I might need to override some automatic calculations. Definitely worth the money to get an authoritative answer directly from the IRS!

If your software is limiting you to one Schedule C, you can try this workaround: Create one home office calculation for the entire year, but attach a detailed statement explaining your situation. Include the dates you lived in each home, the square footage of each total home and office space, and your calculation method. For example: "Home 1: Jan 1-June 30, 2023. Total home: 1500 sq ft. Office: 150 sq ft (10%). Home 2: July 1-Dec 31, 2023. Total home: 1800 sq ft. Office: 225 sq ft (12.5%)." Then show how you calculated each portion. Most audit issues with home offices come from poor documentation, not from the calculation itself.

Has anyone tried TurboTax for this? I'm in the exact same situation (moved from Illinois to Georgia in August) and wondering if it handles multiple home offices better than the free options. Willing to pay if it actually works correctly.

I actually went through this exact situation two years ago when I moved from Pennsylvania to North Carolina mid-year. Here's what I learned from my CPA: you definitely want to keep detailed records of both offices including photos, measurements, and receipts for any office-related expenses. One thing that wasn't mentioned yet - make sure you're tracking the move itself too. Some of your moving expenses might be deductible as business expenses if you're self-employed, especially if the move was primarily for business reasons. This includes things like temporary storage if you had a gap between homes that affected your ability to work. Also, don't forget about depreciation if you own either of the homes. The home office deduction can include depreciation on the business portion of your home, but you'll need to calculate it separately for each property based on the time periods you used each office. This gets complex with mid-year moves, so definitely document everything thoroughly. The key is consistency in your method and rock-solid documentation. The IRS cares more about proper substantiation than they do about which calculation method you choose.

I went through this exact same situation last year when I moved from Oregon to Arizona in July. One thing I learned that might help - make sure you're also considering the different utility costs between your two locations when calculating actual expenses. My Oregon office heating costs were way higher than my Arizona cooling costs, which affected my deduction calculations significantly. Also, if you're using the regular method, don't forget about indirect expenses like home insurance and general repairs/maintenance that can be allocated to your office space. These often get overlooked but can add up, especially when you have two different properties with different maintenance needs. The state tax allocation piece is crucial too - some states have different rules about how business income gets sourced, so you might want to check if your old state considers work done there as sourced to that state even if you moved mid-year. I had to file partial year returns in both states and allocate my Schedule C income based on where I actually performed the work. One last tip: keep a simple calendar or log showing which days you worked from which office. It really helps if you ever need to prove the allocation to either the IRS or state tax authorities.