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Internal Revenue Service

Fill out Form 8829 online

Expenses for Business Use of Your Home

Form 8829 is how a self-employed person who files Schedule C figures the deduction for using part of a home for business, based on actual expenses. It works out the business share of the home, limits the deduction to the income from the business use of the home, and tracks any expenses you can carry over to next year. You use a separate Form 8829 for each home you used for business during the year.

Fill out Form 8829Blank form from the IRS

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Edition
Tax year 2025
Pages
1
Fillable fields
58
Checked against the IRS
November 8, 2026

GuruPDF is not affiliated with the Internal Revenue Service. This page explains the form in plain words; it is not legal or tax advice. Always check the official instructions before you file. This is the tax year 2025 version; the IRS keeps forms for earlier years.

Who uses Form 8829

  • Sole proprietors who file Schedule C and claim actual home office expenses
  • Self-employed people who use part of their home regularly and exclusively as their principal place of business
  • Self-employed people who regularly and exclusively use part of their home to meet clients, patients or customers, or use a separate structure not attached to the home for the business
  • Sellers who store inventory or product samples at home when the home is the only fixed location of the business
  • Home daycare providers who meet the state licensing, certification or approval rules described in the instructions

Before you start

  • The area of your whole home and of the part used for business, in square feet or another reasonable measure
  • Your completed Schedule C, including the amount on line 29
  • Records of the year's home expenses: mortgage interest, real estate taxes, insurance, rent, repairs, utilities and other costs
  • The cost or other basis of your home and land, and their fair market value on the date you first used the home for business
  • Your 2024 Form 8829 (lines 43 and 44) or the last one you filed, for any carryover
  • If you run a daycare, the number of days and hours the home was used for it

How to fill out Form 8829

  1. Enter your name and the business area (lines 1 to 3)

    At the top, enter the name of the proprietor and the social security number. On line 1 enter the area used regularly and exclusively for business, regularly for daycare, or for storing inventory or product samples. On line 2 enter the total area of the home. Do not count on line 1 any area used to figure expenses that belong to inventory costs; those are handled in Schedule C, Part III. Line 3 is line 1 divided by line 2, as a percentage.

  2. Figure the business percentage (lines 4 to 7)

    Only daycare facilities that are not used exclusively for business fill in lines 4 to 6; everyone else enters the line 3 percentage on line 7. Line 4 is the total hours the home was used for daycare during the year. Line 5 is 8,760 hours, unless you started or stopped daycare during the year; then enter 24 times the number of days the home was available for daycare. Line 6 divides line 4 by line 5, and line 7 multiplies line 6 by line 3. If your daycare space mixes areas used only for business with areas used partly for business, follow the special computation in the instructions and attach a statement.

  3. Set the income limit and the two columns (line 8)

    Line 8 starts from Schedule C, line 29, adds any gain from the business use of the home, and subtracts any loss from the business that is not from the use of the home. If some of the income was earned at a place other than your home, the instructions explain how to figure the part that comes from the home. For lines 9 to 22, enter direct expenses, which benefit only the business part of the home, in column (a), and indirect expenses, which keep up and run the whole home, in column (b).

  4. Casualty losses, mortgage interest and real estate taxes (lines 9 to 15)

    Lines 9, 10 and 11 are for casualty losses, mortgage interest and real estate taxes that would be deductible as personal expenses if you did not use your home for business. If you take the standard deduction, leave lines 10 and 11 blank and claim the business share of those costs on lines 16 and 17 instead; casualty losses then generally go on line 29 rather than line 9 (see the instructions). If you itemize, the instructions give step-by-step rules, and a Line 11 Worksheet when the state and local tax limit applies. Line 12 adds lines 9 to 11, line 13 applies the line 7 percentage to column (b), and line 14 adds column (a) and line 13. Line 15 subtracts line 14 from line 8 (enter -0- if the result is zero or less).

  5. Operating expenses (lines 16 to 27)

    Line 16 is for excess mortgage interest and line 17 for excess real estate taxes, as the instructions define them for people who itemize and for people who take the standard deduction. Then enter insurance (line 18), rent if you rent your home (line 19), repairs and maintenance (line 20), utilities (line 21) and other operating expenses not entered on lines 9 to 21 (line 22). Line 23 adds lines 16 to 22, and line 24 applies the line 7 percentage to column (b). Line 25 is the operating expense carryover from line 43 of your 2024 Form 8829, or from the last Form 8829 you filed. Line 26 adds line 23 column (a), line 24 and line 25, and line 27 is the smaller of line 15 or line 26.

  6. Casualty losses, depreciation and your deduction (lines 28 to 36)

    Line 28 subtracts line 27 from line 15; it is the limit left for excess casualty losses and depreciation. Enter excess casualty losses on line 29, depreciation from line 42 on line 30, and the carryover from line 44 of your 2024 Form 8829 (or the last one you filed) on line 31. Line 33 is the smaller of line 28 or line 32, and line 34 adds lines 14, 27 and 33. Any casualty loss portion goes on line 35 and is carried to Form 4684. Line 36 is line 34 minus line 35; enter it on Schedule C, line 30. If the home was used for more than one business, divide line 36 among them in a reasonable way.

  7. Depreciation and carryovers (Parts III and IV, lines 37 to 44)

    On line 37 enter the cost or other basis of your home, including land, or its fair market value on the date you first used it for business if that is less. Line 38 is the land's part of that amount, line 39 the basis of the building, and line 40 its business part (line 39 times line 7). Take the line 41 percentage from the table in the instructions, based on when you first used the home for business, and multiply line 40 by it to get line 42. Additions and improvements placed in service after business use began are not entered on lines 37 to 40; you figure their depreciation on an attached statement and include it in line 42. In Part IV, lines 43 and 44 show the amounts you can carry over to 2026.

After you fill it out

Form 8829 is not filed on its own: it is filed only with Schedule C (Form 1040), as part of your income tax return. Enter the line 36 amount on Schedule C, line 30. If line 35 shows a casualty loss, carry it to Form 4684, and attach Form 4562 when the instructions require it. If you file a paper return, check the filing address for your return on the IRS website, and keep a copy, because next year's form asks for the amounts on lines 43 and 44.

Signing: Form 8829 has no signature line. You sign the Form 1040 or other return that it is attached to.

Watch out for

  • This edition is for tax year 2025. For another year, use that year's Form 8829 from the IRS prior-year forms page.
  • Do not use Form 8829 if you claim actual home expenses as a partner or on Schedule F; the instructions send you to the worksheet in Publication 587 instead. Employees cannot deduct home office expenses on their personal return.
  • Only expenses that exist because you use your home for business go on Form 8829. Other business costs, such as salaries, supplies and advertising, are deducted elsewhere on Schedule C.
  • If you first used your home for business in 2025, or are depreciating additions or improvements placed in service in 2025, also complete and attach Form 4562. Do not include that depreciation on Schedule C, line 13.

Questions about Form 8829

Can I use Form 8829 if I rent my home?

Yes. The IRS says the home office deduction is available to both homeowners and renters. A renter enters the rent paid on line 19, column (b).

What is the difference between direct and indirect expenses?

Direct expenses benefit only the business part of the home, such as painting or repairing the office, and go in full in column (a). Indirect expenses keep up and run the whole home and generally go in full in column (b), where the form applies your business percentage.

What happens if my expenses are more than the limit?

Part IV figures the operating expenses (line 43) and the excess casualty losses and depreciation (line 44) you can carry over to 2026. The carryover is subject to that year's limit, whether or not you live in the same home.

Can I use the simplified method instead?

Yes. The simplified method multiplies a set rate by the square footage used for business instead of adding up actual expenses; the Instructions for Schedule C and Publication 587 explain it. If you elect it for a home for 2025, do not file Form 8829 for that home, and if you used more than one home for business, you can use it for only one of them. Once you choose a method for a year, you cannot change to the other method for that year.

I work from home as an employee. Can I file Form 8829?

No. The instructions say expenses for business use of your home as an employee cannot be deducted on your personal return.

Official information

Page text last reviewed November 7, 2026.

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