Working from home 3

[KutEng]

Considering how topical it is with the current global landscape, what's everyone's opinions on working from home in our industry?
Does anyone's employer successfully offer a work from home option?
How does it work?

I have heard in the past that it is very difficult for our profession to work from home... However, with all that has happened in the last few weeks, many big engineering firms have begun setting up staff to work from home

 

[GregLocock]

Tax deductibility of home offices in Australia is a bit of a minefield. Some people like to claim the office as a premises. This means when they sell their house that capital gains tax is payable on the office space. Not a good idea.

Cheers

Greg Locock


New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

 

[LittleInch]

The UK allows a magnificent £4 / week for "use of home" as an office rising to £6/week in 2020.

There are other ways but come with a lot of downsides, capital gains being one of them.

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.

 

[MikeHalloran]

Tax deductibility of home offices in Australia is a bit of a minefield.

Not terribly different here in The Colonies.
Worst when you want to sell a house that's been used and taxed as a home office, sort of like selling two separate properties.
... according to all I've read over decades of doing occasional work at home, which is why I've never claimed the home office thing.



Mike Halloran
Corinth, NY, USA

 

[JohnRBaker]

For all of you who're working from home...

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

 

[CWB1]

I don't see many Americans suddenly trying to claim their home office as a deduction simply bc so few itemize deductions anymore due to the massive standard deduction. Small business owners may, but those folks mostly likely already were.

Personally I have never been tempted to claim that deduction for zoning and property tax reasons. Years ago when my family's diesel shop led to the entire homestead being unexpectedly rezoned from ag to dual residential/commercial it multiplied the taxes and dropped the real-world sale value. Granted those were different circumstances, but it taught a good lesson about making assumptions about the future and govt so I will always keep my home and business entanglements separate.

 

[Mahendra Gupta]

If you work in a typical desk job arrangement i.e. using a computer, printer, and a few gadgets, working from home is easily possible with the help of a reliable collaboration platform and a resource management tool. However, for people working in service/maintenance teams, manufacturing, or production units, remote working is not much of a choice.

Moreover, the production plants have scaled down the production which requires a limited workforce at the workplace in order to abide by the social distancing requirements. These organizations are scaling down the operation so that they can at least survive the financial setback and pay wages to their resources.

 

[NOLAscience]

I've worked from home for about 4 or 5 years. I've worked from vacation in Arkansas and Biloxi, too! Not bad if a few hours of work gets me more days on the lake or the beach.

I have everything I need on my laptop except for one book (and it is on my laptop, too -- I just prefer the speed of using the printed version).

FedEx Office and Office Depot both do a fine job of printing those 11x17s for you. FedEx was easier and faster until COVID-19, when Office Depot seemed to 'step up' and improved their service. Just email your PDFs to 'printandgo@fedex.com'. They will email you a code that you use to print at a self-serve kiosk. You can also print from USB, but I use that for backup just in case I don't have the emailed code (forgot your phone, anyone?). I like that if I decide to print a different version, only PDF electrons are burned, not paper and ink.

Office Depot hangs your prints on a set of shelves near the registers. They used to be slow (almost overnight!) but lately it seems my prints are ready within a couple of hours. I send, work a bit more, then go pick them up. I also use these services for larger letter-sized print jobs bc my printer is low-capacity.

It's nice to take a lunchtime break or take a short drive after "work" to go out into the world to pick up prints. You get to see all the commuters and laugh.

 

[NOLAscience]

I don't see many Americans suddenly trying to claim their home office as a deduction simply bc so few itemize deductions anymore due to the massive standard deduction. Small business owners may, but those folks mostly likely already were.

An employee cannot take the home office deduction, no matter what. (This from my sister, the accountant.)

As a self-employed consultant, I have been taking the simplified home office deduction for the past two years, which is based on square footage times a standard rate. It's not much, but it helps. Works up to some limit like 300 sq ft. I also claim about half the rent of my storage unit bc I have books and other equipment stored there. Believe me, I pay plenty in taxes, so I will never be audited. These deductions are taken from "Schedule C -- Profit and Loss for a Business", so the standard deduction is not applicable.

 

[IRstuff]

That's not completely true. During this Covid-19 crisis, working at home is now a condition of employment, so the home office is likely deductible, at least, for this year.

https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/can-you-deduct-your-home-office-when-youre-employee.html[/URL]]Employees may only take the home office deduction if they maintain the home office for the convenience of their employer. An employee’s home office is deemed to be for an employer’s convenience only if it is:

a condition of employment
necessary for the employer’s business to properly function, or
needed to allow the employee to properly perform his or her duties.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg

faq731-376 forum1529 Entire Forum list

http://www.eng-tips.com/forumlist.cfm