Orrin Hatch: “I rise today to introduce the Home Office Deduction Act of 1994. I am joined in this effort by my friends and…”

“I rise today to introduce the Home Office Deduction Act of 1994. I am joined in this effort by my friends and colleagues, Senator Exon and Senator Lieberman. Companion legislation (H.R. 3407) has already been introduced in the House of Representatives by Representatives Peter Hoagland, Nancy Johnson, Kweisi Mfume, Phil Crane, and others. This bill is designed to reverse an inequity for hundreds of thousands of taxpayers that was created by last year's Supreme Court decision in Commissioner versus Soliman. That decision effectively closed the door to legitimate home office deductions for many taxpayers. Moreover, the decision unfairly penalizes many small businesses simply because they operate from a home rather than from a store front, office building, or industrial park. Mr. President, until the Soliman decision, small business owners and professionals who dedicated a space in their homes to use for business activities were allowed to deduct the expenses of the home office if the following factors applied: First, the space in the home was used solely and exclusively as an office; second, the taxpayer had no other office for the business; and third, the deduction claimed was not greater than the income earned by the business.”