feuervogel | (Reply)

*nod* This about meshes with what I learned freelancing for a while. If you have a "home office", the room has to be just an office. You can't, for example, have a computer in your breakfast nook, or your bedroom. The room might be usable for other purposes, but it should be set up in such a fashion that the primary purpose is obvious, and you're claiming just that portion of your rent (e.g.) for just that purpose. You might occasionally crochet at your home office desk, you might keep your kid in the room to watch them... but if you're also storing your craft supplies in there, or there's a nursery in the corner, any sort of permanent what-have-you, and they find out... you're pinched.

By comparison to the cell phone specifically, though - Internet connections were a slightly different matter - since I was contracting webdev, an internet connection was required. Since the bill doesn't break down into usage, it was technically permissable, IIRC, to treat the connection itself as a business expense.

I don't think you can treat a portion of your personal cell bill as an expense, though - not if the job doesn't require it AND that's not the sole usage. One or the other might be arguable, but "I occasionally use it for work-related tasks because it's more convenient" doesn't quite fit the requirements.