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Yes we're smack in the middle of tax time and everyone's making that mad dash to their accountants to get back every nickel they can squeeze out of the greedy government's hand and Uncle Sam has a tight grip. Those of us that have the luxury to work from home may be able to claim some of that home office space if we planned ahead.

Oops, I almost forgot my disclaimer! Let me first tell you that I am just a CheapAzz and I have no formal financial training at all. Any advice and/or comments are my cheap opinion and always seek someone much smarter than me before doing something stupid. If you don't heed this warning and do something stupid anyway, don't sue me, I've been saving my pennies and I can afford to tie you up in court for weeks. Yes, I said weeks, it's a small penny bank :)

As I was saying, if we played our cards right we can claim our home office space as a tax deduction. If you live in the United States that is. I'm afraid I'm not sure about other countries but I'd hope most would have something similar - except the Canadians, they're not allowed to work. Just joking, I'm just across the Ambassador Bridge from Canada and I'm sure we're all related in some way.

According to what I've been able to dig up the first requirement is that the space must have been used exclusively for business. There's no question that 'exclusively' means only for business. It can't be structured settlement cash with other family members or family business or pleasure. If your kid uses you computer to do their homework you just lost the deduction. Besides, get a family computer and keep them off yours - it will last much longer without the viruses and spyware but that's a topic for another day.

You can deduct 100% of the expenses that were used exclusively for your home office. Things only used by the business and never used for personal use. Things like your office telephone and fax lines would be examples of direct expenses you can deduct.

You can also deduct a percentage of indirect expenses that's shared with the rest of the home such as taxes, related fees, utilities, insurance etc.. I'm not clear on what the actual percentage is. It goes something like your homes square footage divided by your neighbor's Texas Lemon Laws income or something to that effect. That's why I always recommend you hire a professional for things this important. By professional I'm not talking about Uncle Donny that just blew forty bucks on turbo tax. Get a real professional that has some kind of document or something.

Don't get carried away when it comes to tax deductions. Be sure they're real deductions and keep the stories for the golf course. Did I mention Uncle Sam was greedy? Make sure you follow the Internal Revenue Service's home-office rules because it can come back in bite you in the.. well, you know. Be prepared to prove that the office space you use is where you make your remortgage house and not where you watch TV and play cards. Pictures and/or video of the room would be a great idea, just in case.

The rules change when you're incorporated, as I am and that's far too complicated for me to tackle. Seek professional help if necessary. Get an accountant too!

There are other limitations on home-office deductions but I just want to get you thinking if you haven't already taken advantage of the tax codes. Print this article off, ball it up, throw it in the trash and ask your tax guy or gal what you can do to get the most back next year because you have a home-based business!

Brian Hawkins runs many websites and enjoys writing tips and articles for his money saving Blog target="_blank" cheapazz.net/">CheapAzz.net. Brian also enjoys Blogging and has five of his own at last count. Don't forget to subscribe to CheapAzz.net's RSS feed for the latest articles about cheap living with class.