As long as you use a portion of your home "regularly and exclusively" in connection with your trade or business, including for administrative and managerial tasks, you're eligible to claim the home office deduction. The space does not have to be a separate room.

If you use that space for any non-business purpose for as little as one day during the year, you're not eligible to claim the home office that year.

You base this deduction on the square footage of your office divided by the total square footage of your apartment.

As a renter, claiming the home office deduction makes a portion of your rent tax deductible on your federal return.

I wrote about the home office deduction in January's newsletter which is available at:

www.mdtaxes.com/news0106.html.

Zip Code: aschwartz@mdtaxes.com