The home office deduction is easily the king of overlooked write-offs. Too many owners skip it because they think it’s a guaranteed audit trigger (it’s not — if done right).

If you use part of your home regularly and exclusively for business — even a spare bedroom, basement, or a dedicated corner — you can deduct a percentage of your rent or mortgage interest, utilities, homeowners insurance, repairs, and even property taxes. It’s not a made-up number: you calculate the square footage of your office compared to your home’s total square footage.

Done correctly, it’s clean, legal, and it saves real money every year.

Yes, but only if you track it right. The IRS gives you two options:

1️⃣ Standard Mileage: Multiply your documented business miles by the standard rate (e.g., 65.5 cents per mile in 2023).
2️⃣ Actual Expenses: Deduct a percentage of all real costs — gas, oil changes, tires, insurance, registration, lease payments, even depreciation if you own the car.

Here’s where people mess up: they don’t keep a mileage log, so they end up guessing — and the IRS doesn’t accept guesses. Good practice is to log the odometer at the start and end of each year and keep a mileage record (apps help). If you use one car for both personal and business, only the business portion counts. Done right, this is one of the biggest deductions for solo owners.

Yes — but you have to be specific. Business meals with clients, prospects, or vendors are generally 50% deductible if they’re directly related to your business. Grabbing lunch alone between errands? Nope, that’s personal. Treating the team to an office lunch? That can be 100% deductible if you meet the IRS’s criteria for office parties or staff meals for the convenience of the employer.

Rule of thumb: always document who you met, where, why, and what you discussed. A receipt with a scribbled note beats a blank credit card statement every time if you ever get audited.

Absolutely — but it’s about business use percentage. If your phone is 80% business calls and 20% personal, then 80% of that bill is deductible. Internet works the same way. Many owners skip this because they assume it’s minor or too messy to prove. It’s not — track your usage, apply a reasonable split, and claim it.

For bigger savings, if you’re an S Corp owner, you should run these through an accountable plan so it’s treated as a reimbursed business expense — clean and deductible to the business without adding to your personal taxable income.

Your health insurance premiums can often be run through your S Corp if you’re more than a 2% owner. Many skip this or do it wrong — leaving thousands on the table. The key is to include the cost in your W-2 as taxable income, then deduct it on your personal return to get the self-employed health insurance deduction. If you do it right, you reduce taxable income, save on payroll taxes, and the S Corp gets a deduction too.

Botch it, and you lose the whole break. This one alone is worth setting up properly.

Good news: you can amend old returns for up to three years (sometimes longer if there are carryover losses or other special cases). If you’ve been under-claiming legit deductions, you can often claw back some of that cash. The catch? You need solid records to back up your numbers — the IRS won’t take your word for it. If you didn’t keep great records, start now. It’s never too late to get organized.

Realistically, even a solo freelancer can see $3,000–$10,000 or more in annual tax savings just by stacking these properly. A typical small business owner — home office, vehicle, meals, phone, internet, plus clean S Corp deductions — can easily reclaim thousands in tax overpayments every single year. And the savings often grow as your business grows. But you only get it if you keep your books clean and actually claim what you’re legally entitled to. That’s the Brunk angle: stop rotting in overpayment land.

Use what I call a running deductions list. Every month, double-check: Did you log your miles? Snap receipts for meals? Review your phone and internet bills? Track your home office space? If you’re an S Corp, are you running your health insurance through the payroll properly?

Small habits here save big money later. And if you don’t want to think about it alone, book a call — I’ll help you get it sorted, keep it tight, and make sure you’re not paying the IRS a penny more than you have to.