Leo is a self-employed architect who maintains a qualifying office in his home. Leo has $80,000 gross income from his practice and incurs $72,000 in salaries, supplies, computer services, etc. In addition, Leo's mortgage interest and real estate taxes allocable to the office total $3,000. Additional other home office expenses total $9,000 and consist of depreciation, utilities, insurance, and maintenance. Leo's total home office deductions are:.
A) $10,000.
B) $15,000.
C) $20,000.
D) $95,000.

$8,000 (they cannot exceed total income ⇒ business expenses + home office deductions ≤ $80,000)

Explanation:

The Tax Cut and Jobs Act established a maximum of $5,000 (single filers) deduction for property taxes (so Leo's real estate tax qualifies), and since Leo is self-employed, he can also deduct mortgage interest.

Other office expenses can be deducted either total if they only apply to the home office or partially if they apply to the entire house, and must be assigned proportionally. These expenses generally include insurance, utilities, repairs, security system expenses, maid service, garbage disposal, and decorating expenses.

There are two ways to determine the amount of home office deduction:

urban company reports the following information regarding its production cost: units produced 37,000 units direct labor $ 30 per unit direct materials $ 35 per unit variable overhead $ 237,000 in total fixed overhead $ 127,000 in total

answer; microeconomics;