08/10/2026
Home Office & Mileage Deductions, Get the Recordkeeping Right
These are two of the most valuable small business deductions, and also two of the most commonly claimed incorrectly. 🚗🏠
For the home office deduction, the space has to be used regularly and exclusively for business, not your kitchen table that doubles as a workspace some evenings. You'll need to track the square footage of the space and your total home square footage, plus keep records of related expenses like rent, mortgage interest, utilities, and insurance.
For mileage, "I drove a lot for work" won't hold up. You need a contemporaneous log with the date, business purpose, and miles driven for each trip, kept as you go rather than reconstructed later. Commuting from home to a regular workplace doesn't count, but driving between job sites, to meet clients, or for supply runs does.
The common thread with both: good documentation is what turns a deduction you're entitled to into one you can actually keep if you're ever asked to show your work.
Not sure if you're tracking these the right way? Send us a message, we'll walk through it with you.
