Home offices can be deducted for:

One – Exclusively and regularly as either: your principal place of business, or as a place to meet or deal with patients, clients or customers in the normal course of your business. Where there is a separate structure not attached to your home, the regular and exclusive use does not need to be your principal place of business as long as the use is in connection with your trade or business.

Two – On a regular basis for certain storage use — such as storing inventory or product samples — as rental property, or as a home daycare facility.

So if you have a room that you use for your business (i.e. a home office) or you have a storage space you use for your business, you should be able to satisfy one of the criteria.

In general, you can dedcuct the percentage of your home expenses that is the equal to the percentage of your home you use. For example, if your home is 2200 square feet, and your home office is 220 feed, you would be able to use 10% as the amount of certain home expenses you can use to deduct.

Advantages of Building a Home Office

This plan has worked out for a couple of types of home business owners I know. Rather than renting office space or using space inside their homes, they built an outside structure on their property. They could take advantage of the home office deductions (read the IRS guidelines for clarification), and use their money to increase the asset value of their home because of the home office building!

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When most of us think about being a home worker, we think of a business or profession where we can have a home office. But telecommuting employees are becoming much more common. Honestly, it is the most common for employees who get to work at home a few days a week, but also report to an office, employees who travel a lot and who can base their home office in any city, and for those in some sort of technical field.

But there are major companies who do hire real work at home workers. And you can find jobs you can perform without an special high tech skills too! Though, to be realistic, the more skills you can bring to the table, the more choices you will have.

Pay scales may be slightly lower than they are for those who report to an office, but when you consider the expense of clothes and commuting, it may work out beter for you. And sometimes the pay will not be affected at all.

What Kind of Home Based Hourly or Salaried Jobs Can You Get Wihout High Tech Skills?

Honestly, I hear about new types of jobs tha can be performed at home all the time. And of course, things like computer programming or web design are common and sort of obvious. But the point of this article is to move beyond those types of techie jobs!

Customer Service Reps – I hate to admit that I have been late on my cable bill (gasp) a couple of times in my past. I noticed that the nice lady who called me to remind me to pay called from her home phone, and not from the major cable company. She had been hired to collect bills, and had a work at home position.

I also noted that FTD is hiring customer service reps. for 1-800-FLOWERS.com I found that with a 5 minute Google search. I'm sure that a determined searcher can find a lot more real opportunities.

I also found a variety of firms that outsource customer service who were hiring home workers. Again, I hesitate to mention one or the other because I have not checked them out. But finding them is a simple search away.

Recruiters – Recruiting companies match job seekers with employers. The job involves a lot of phone work as you screen prospects, seek clients, and try to match them together. If this sounds like a good match for you, try a search on a Google or a major job board like Monster.

Sales – Many sales positions, either local or national, offer salaries plus bonuses. They do not require that sales people report into a home office every day, and some never require it. I know several sales people, who are employed by a home company, that get to work from home. They use their phone and emails for most of the work they do, but may need to leave home sometimes for sales call.

Lead Generation / Appointment Setters - Some professionals, like insurance agents or financial planners, hire phone lead generators to set appointments for them. You probably will have a prepared script and simply call from a list your employer provides you.

Virtual Assistants – If you can complete assignments through email, the phone, or fax, a virtual office assistant job may be for you! There are available jobs for a variety of skill levels, and of course, your salary will depend upon what types of work you can perform. Examples of at home office assistant jobs are data entry, legal forms, medical coding and billing, scheduling, setting appointments, travel arrangements, etc. So you can see that there are many positions to fit in with the skills of many types of people.

What Do You Need?

You will probably need to talk on the phone for some of these opportunities, so even if you have kids at home, you need a quiet place without baby crying or the dog barking. Most jobs will require a phone and computer with an internet connection. Some may require a fax machine, but these are pretty cheap to buy these days.

And even though you get to work from your home office (or kitchen table), some salaried or hourly jobs may require set hours. For instance, a phone customer rep would need to keep a schedule when he or she would be expected to answer the phone or make calls.

Some other opportunities may just require a certain amount of production, and do not require set hours. For example, you may be expected to set a minimum of 10 appointments a week, but can do it after dinner if that is the best time to call.

How to Find Real Work at Home Salaried Jobs

We plan to post a list of good places to look for home jobs in the future. It will take us some time to check out these resources, so we aren't wasting your time. For now, you can try a search on Yahoo, Google, MSN, or any major search engine. You can also look on the big job boards like Monster or Google.

Try to find real companies or outsourcing firms that offer this type of work. If you find ads that ask for an upfront fee to find you work at home jobs, be sure and check them out before you sign up. Real opportunities should not really charge you upfront. That is not to say all paid services are bad. Some charge a legitimate fee for their service. But we have also heard a lot of complaints about some.

We would love to hear from you! Be sure and post your comments, experiences, and suggestions!

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