Teaching · For Tutors

$5 a square foot, or your actual costs: see which gives more.

Answer three questions about the space, enter its size and the home’s costs for the year. The summary works out the business share and compares the simplified method with the regular method, both limited by your tutoring income.

Work out a yearWhat you get
$12one-time · every device you sign in on
Buy · $12

Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the Tutoring business kit, $69 for 64 items.

The organizer

One record per tax year, under your initials or a business code. The example is made up.

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What you get

Teaching · For Tutors$12 · included with Classroom and Whole-school licenses

What you finish with
For each tax year, the business percentage of the home, the simplified and regular deductions, which is larger, and what to keep on file.
Who it is for
Self-employed tutors and home-based tutoring businesses filing Schedule C.
Format
Browser organizer filled in once a year from your bills. One saved record per year; printed as a worksheet or blank; CSV; export and import a file.
Access
$12 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Also in the Tutoring business kit ($69) and the Teaching Suite pass ($199), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The For Tutors space in Caveat Teaching.
Support
Questions about an order, access or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.
$5oractual
Drawn for this page. Two federal methods: $5 a square foot, or the business share of what the home actually costs.

How to use it

  1. Start a record with your initials or business code and the date.
  2. Check that the space qualifies.
  3. Enter the office and home square feet, and whether you rent or own.
  4. Enter the year’s whole-home costs, office-only costs and income.
  5. Compare the two methods and keep the records behind your choice.

Work out a year

What the organizer is for

Who qualifies

The space must be used regularly and only for the business, and be your principal place of business or a place where you meet students in the normal course of your work. A dining table you also eat at does not count.

Two methods

The simplified method is $5 for each square foot of office, up to 300 square feet, with no home expenses to track. The regular method takes the business share of rent or mortgage interest, utilities, insurance and repairs, plus office-only costs and, for owners, depreciation, on Form 8829. Either is limited by the business’s income.

What this is not

This organizer explains federal rules in general and does the arithmetic; it is not tax advice. States have their own rules, and the IRS forms and figures can change each year.

Sources

  1. Internal Revenue Service, Publication 587, Business Use of Your Home (qualification tests, simplified and regular methods, income limit).
  2. Internal Revenue Service, Form 8829, Expenses for Business Use of Your Home, and its instructions.
  3. Internal Revenue Service, Simplified option for home office deduction ($5 per square foot, up to 300 square feet).
  4. Internal Revenue Service, Publication 523, Selling Your Home (depreciation taken after May 6, 1997 and gain on sale).

The example office and costs are made up. Federal rules in general terms; not tax advice. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.