(This article was last updated on October 7, 2026.)
Unfortunately, you can’t claim a bathroom as part of your home office, even though you likely take a potty break or two during your workday.
A home office must be used regularly and exclusively for business. Even if you mostly use the bathroom closest to your home office while you work, the second you use it as a guest bathroom, for your children, or “off the clock,” it’s not exclusive anymore. Realistically, that’s not happening in most homes.
Consider what happened when Luis Bulas, a Florida resident, tried to claim a deduction for one of his bedrooms, a hallway, and a bathroom on the grounds that he used them exclusively for his office:
The IRS was willing to grant him the use of the bedroom. The bedroom was, as mentioned earlier, about 226.3 square feet, which worked out to about 8.45% of the total square feet associated with Bulas’ residence. That means that he was entitled to pro-rate his allocable expenses and take 8.45% as a business deduction. No more. Bulas could not offer proof that the personal use of the hallway and bathroom met any exception under section 280A(c) of the Tax Code and thus, the personal use of the space trumped the business use. The result? He lost the deduction.”
Even though a regular office has a bathroom (let’s hope anyway!) you can’t include one in your home office deduction. There are, however, a plethora of other deductions available when claiming a home office. Capitalize on those and let go of that extra 100 sq ft you thought you might be able to claim this year.
Although we hope you find find the information in this article helpful, it is for informational purposes only and is neither tax nor legal advice.
