Is a home's electricity bill with a home office line 30 or line 25?

Utilities for premises you rent for the business are line 25 in full; utilities for the home that contains your office are indirect home expenses that flow through line 30 instead.

Is a home's electricity bill with a home office line 30 or not deductible?

If the space does not meet the exclusive and regular use test, there is no home office at all, and the household utilities are simply personal.

Where does home electricity go with a home office? Line 30

Short answer Line 30 Line 30, business use of your home

A home's electricity bill with a home office belongs on Line 30, line 30, business use of your home.

Why line 30

Household utilities in a home with a qualifying office are not listed on line 25. They are indirect expenses of the home, so they go into the home office calculation and reach the return on line 30, either through Form 8829 where you enter the full year's utilities and apply the business percentage of the home, or inside the simplified method's flat square-footage rate, which already accounts for them. Putting the same electricity on line 25 as well double counts it, and taking the simplified method means you get no separate utility deduction at all for the home. The home office deduction is also capped at the gross income from the business, which line 25 is not.

Log it once, with the line already on it. Type an expense in plain words in ClaryBook and it is filed with a date, vendor, amount and what it was for, so the number your preparer needs for a home's electricity bill with a home office is already written down.

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What a home's electricity bill with a home office is confused with

Line 25, utilities: Utilities for premises you rent for the business are line 25 in full; utilities for the home that contains your office are indirect home expenses that flow through line 30 instead.
not deductible, not deductible: If the space does not meet the exclusive and regular use test, there is no home office at all, and the household utilities are simply personal.
Line 27a, other expenses: A cost caused only by the business and not by the household, a dedicated circuit or a separately metered workshop for instance, is a direct expense you can deduct rather than apportion.

Examples that belong on line 30

$2,280 of annual household electricity with a 12 percent business-use percentage of the home
$180 a month of power in a home where one of eight rooms is the office
A simplified-method claim at the flat rate per square foot with no separate utility entry
$640 of electricity at a separately metered garage workshop, deducted as a direct expense
$1,450 of combined household gas and electricity entered on Form 8829

What does not belong here

Household electricity on line 25.
The same bill on Form 8829 and on line 25.
A utility deduction on top of a simplified-method home office claim.
A business percentage based on hours worked rather than on space.

The limit that applies

Household utilities are indirect home office expenses. Form 8829 applies the business percentage; the simplified method's flat rate already includes them. The deduction is limited to the gross income from the business.

What to keep

Keep the full year of utility bills for the home plus the measurements that produce the business percentage: the square footage of the office and of the home. The percentage is the number that gets tested, so write down how you measured it.

Other expenses on line 30

Expense	Line
home costs for a home office	Line 30
home mortgage interest where you have a home office	Line 30
homeowner's or renter's insurance with a home office	Line 30
renting a room in your own home to your business	Line 30
the simplified home office method	Line 30
working from home	Line 30

Related lookups

Sources

This page explains how Schedule C lines work. It is general information, not tax advice for your situation. If an expense is large or the answer turns on a fact about your business, confirm it with your tax preparer.

Looking for a different expense? The full Schedule C line lookup has every line from 8 to 27 with the expenses that belong on each, and Schedule C expense categories walks the whole form in order.

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