Can I Deduct My Utilities?

Yes & No

In a era that people are trying to get every last nickel to stay in their pocket, the question arises many time, can I write off my utilities? The main reason for this is that most of them are expensive. In addition, a lot of middle class people feel that they are owed this deduction under the belief that the rich people always deduct theirs!

The YES part of the answer is “Yes” for those of us that have a home office. You can write of a percentage of all of your utilities that are used to run your house. This includes:

Gas, oil, water, sewer, electric, wood for the wood stove, wood pellets, etc.

Please note, this doe not include your cable bill (covered in another post).

The no answer is for anyone who does not have a home office and for the people who do have a home office, but show a loss before the Home Office deduction.

The deduction is not lost, but it is carried over to future year when you have a profit. A lot of tax people tend to not even bother with this with the assumption that it is insignificant and that you will never show a profit. Two great reasons for switching tax people!

Cheers!

Steven Spangenberg

Home Based Business Tax & Marketing Expert

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