IR-2014-25 March 7, 2014

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service is opening the nomination and application process for membership on the Electronic Tax Administration Advisory Committee (ETAAC). The deadline for submitting applications is April 21, 2014.

ETAAC was established as required by the Internal Revenue Service Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998. The purpose of the ETAAC is to provide continued input into the development and implementation of the agency’s strategy for electronic tax administration as well as to provide an organized public forum for the discussion of issues in electronic tax administration.

Nominations of qualified individuals may be made by letter and received from individuals or professional associations. Applicants should complete the ETAAC application including a short statement of interest and a resume. Be sure to describe and document your qualifications, past and current affiliations, and dealings in electronic tax administration. A notice published in the Federal Register contains more details about the ETAAC and the application process.

Members are approved by Treasury to serve three-year terms, beginning in the fall of 2014. Members must pass an IRS tax compliance check and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) background investigation and may not be federally registered lobbyists.

Questions about the application process can be sent to etaac@irs.gov.

Simplified Home Office Deduction: English / Spanish / ASL

IR-2014-24, March 7, 2014

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today reminded people with home-based businesses that this year for the first time they can choose a new simplified option for claiming the deduction for business use of a home.

In tax year 2011, the most recent year for which figures are available, some 3.3 million taxpayers claimed deductions for business use of a home (commonly referred to as the home office deduction) totaling nearly $10 billion.

The new optional deduction, capped at $1,500 per year based on $5 a square foot for up to 300 square feet, will reduce the paperwork and recordkeeping burden on small businesses by an estimated 1.6 million hours annually.

The new option is available starting with the 2013 return taxpayers are filing now.  Normally, home-based businesses are required to fill out a 43-line form (Form 8829) often with complex calculations of allocated expenses, depreciation and carryovers of unused deductions.  Instead, taxpayers claiming the optional deduction need only complete a short worksheet in the tax instructions and enter the result on their return. Self-employed individuals claim the home office deduction onSchedule C Line 30, farmers claim it on Schedule F  Line 32 and eligible employees claim it onSchedule A Line 21.

Though homeowners using the new option cannot depreciate the portion of their home used in a trade or business, they can claim allowable mortgage interest, real estate taxes and casualty losses on the home as itemized deductions on Schedule A. These deductions need not be allocated between personal and business use, as is required under the regular method.

Business expenses unrelated to the home, such as advertising, supplies and wages paid to employees, are still fully deductible.

Long-standing restrictions on the home office deduction, such as the requirement that a home office be used regularly and exclusively for business and the limit tied to the income derived from the particular business, still apply under the new option.

Further details on the home office deduction and the new option can be found in Publication 587, posted on IRS.gov.