MILLIONS OF EMPLOYEES WON’T GET A TAX BREAK FOR WORKING FROM HOME

The home office deduction could’ve been this tax season’s most popular way to reduce taxes — a breakout tax break.

After all, the pandemic forced two-thirds of the full-time U.S. workforce to work at home for at least part of 2020, according to surveys. At one point over the summer, nearly twice as many employees were working from home than traditional workplaces, the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research reported.

“WFH” became shorthand for this new reality. Dining room tables and basement sofas became workplaces. Downtown office towers and suburban office parks went dark.

And the federal tax code for years used to help out this kind of WFH employee. They could reduce taxable income by deducting the cost of running home offices and for other unreimbursed employee expenses.

But those deductions were killed off by the 2017 tax overhaul passed under President Donald Trump, which slashed corporate tax rates while rejiggering individual rates — allowing for a higher standard deduction but fewer itemized deductions.

Today, most employees forced by the pandemic to work at home fail to qualify for the home office deduction, which might have shaved hundreds or even thousands of dollars off an individual tax bill. No deduction for the cost of printer paper, new office furniture or the additional heating required for being home during the workday.

The perfect WFH tax break