Balancing costs - Business First of Columbus:

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One of those avenues is the live/work spac e option, a trend that is growing in San Some of those business owners say that living and working in the same dwellin g does save expenses and commuting Several projects have made their way to the Alamo City to meet the including the Steel House Lofts in the historic PedenbIron & Steel Building downtown, and live/work spac e at Pearl Brewery. Will an associate with San Antonio-based , says the live/workj space seems to mesh better in the downtown areaz of larger cities and areparticularlhy well-suited to certain industries, includiny certified public accountants, attorneys, architect and artists.
Chip a local architect, says the live/work space concept was the perfecyt option for he and his wife since they have only one Latelast year, Henderson moved his home and his Contects Consultants and Architects, into a unit at the newlyg completed Pearl Brewery located at 306 E. Grayson. “o knew I wanted to be in this space threeyears ago,” Henderson says. “The contemporary, mixed-use look was appealing. I don’t have to leavde every morning to goto work.” Johnny owner of True Flavors, recently movesd into the Steel Hous Lofts. He says the move has given him the convenience of livinvg and working in downtownSan Antonio, for a reasonablew cost.
True Flavors is a San Antonio-base catering company owned by Hernandez and his sisterLeticia “A lot of my business happends downtown and a lot of my social circles are downtown so I love he says. Hernandez says he actually has two unitw at SteelHouse Lofts, located at 1401 Soutgh Flores St., one for his business office and the other as his personakl residence. Henderson, meanwhile says combininfg his work and home has reduceds his expenses in several areaeincluding utilities, rent and But while the live/work space option does offef many financial advantages to small-business it can also create a few challengesa to those owners looking for certaimn tax breaks, such as the home-office deduction, local tax experts say.
Live/worlk spaces can make sensew andsave money, but meeting the requiremente to write some of those expenses off can be a bit says Jim McCutcheon, senior counsel with LLP. Accordingv to the (IRS), taxpayerse who use a portion of their home for busineses purposes may be able to take a home offic deduction if they meetcertain requirements. Expenses that may be deducted include the businessa portion of realestate taxes, mortgage rent, utilities, insurance, painting, repairs and depreciation. “Therew are lots of people who wouldqualify (for the but don’t out of fear (of being audited).
there are those that don’t qualify and take the deductiomn anyway,” McCutcheon says. “Ig is a crazy deal.” In trying to qualifyt for the deduction, some of the probleme occur because the owner may have a home office that they work out of part yet have anoffice elsewhere. Or, they try to clai m a home office deductio for an area wherer both work duties and personal time are For instance, McCutcheon says, a diningh room table that is used for family mealz and as a desk would likely be questioned by IRS officials.
McCutcheon explainsd that some of thenew live/work spaces might be questionede by the IRS in regardse to the home-office deduction sincee the spaces are often lofts and therr are no walls to distinguish the two areas. He adds that with only one it can be difficult to prove the spaces is strictlyfor business. “It is tough to show the spacwe is used exclusively for business when therd is no wallor door,” he says.
“Otherwise, what is personal and what is business tendsto