1099-MISC and safe harbor home office (OIH)

Jun 13, 2013 5 Replies

Another question for tax year 2013....



As I understand current rules, if a sole proprietor has an office in home (OIH), and the home is rented, not owned, by the sole proprietor, then the sole proprietor is supposed to issue 1099-MISC to the landlord for the rent portion of the OIH expense, if all the the other criteria are met ($600, etc).



Under the new safe harbor, provision, does the requirement to issue a



1099-MISC go away, since there is no calculation of the dollar amount of the deduction attributable to rent paid?

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Logic (always a dangerous thing) would say yes, the requirement to issue a

1099-MISC goes away. The safe harbor calculation is not based on any actual expenditure, only the square footage which qualifies as an OIH.

Ira Smilovitz

Therefore, I conclude that as one can not deduct rent paid, there is no requirement to issue a 1099.

Therefore, I conclude that as one can not deduct rent paid, there is no requirement to issue a 1099. =============== Although I may tend to conclude with the above, I do point out that the requirement to issue a 1099-misc for a business expense says nothing about that business expense being either non-deductible, actually not deducted, or otherwise rendered tax neutral (i.e. where its inclusion or exclusion does not change the tax imposed).

You may be safe in that the IRS can't deny a deduction under this RP for the failure to issue a 1099, but if the 1099 is otherwise required, you could be hit with the IRP penalties for not issuing it. At some point, the IRS or the courts should issue some further guidance to give you a definitive answer.

On 2013-06-14 15:00, D. Stussy wrote: [...]

Good point about 1099-MISC requirement not based on deductibility.

I suppose the same situation already exists with business-use vehicles. You might pay the sole-prop auto repair guy on the corner $2K labor to repair your 50%-bus use vehicle, but you only deduct standard mileage. Do you issue him a 1099-MISC for $1K anyway, regardless of how many business miles you drove and deducted?

I have never really run into this or even thought about it before, so I suspect it's not very common (to issue 1099-MISC for service expenses on a partial business use vehicle), whether required or not.

OK... it's not required because the amount paid is not fixed or determinable under the regs.

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