deducting home use
Posted By: Snow Bunny on 2005-09-12
In Reply to: You can only write off the percentage actually used... - former bank manager
That's fine, if you have no intention of ever selling your house. But if you do, accountants have advised NOT to do that, 'cause it lowers the amount of the sale price you'll be allowed to keep. IOW, if you sell for $150,000 and you claimed $10,000 over time on your home-office, you're only got to get $140,000 of the sale price. Uncle Sam gets the rest.
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deducting home office expenses -
For the home office expense - You would measure the amount of space you actually use to work (your desk area) and figure the percentage of that square footage to your total square footage. Then you would use that percentage of your utilities costs, etc., to count on your taxes.
deducting for errors
A great deal of companies deduct now, and every one I ever worked for did. Let me tell you why we have to do that. It costs a great deal of money to edit/proof reports. If you make 8 cpl and the company only gets 12 cpl gross, that leaves very little. As editors, we spend a lot of time taking the time to explain why something is wrong, give examples, explain what the words mean, send out countless emails asking MTs to be more careful, to spellcheck, to at least do a quick read of their documents before they send and it just doesn't work. The only way we can get their attention is to put something in place that will.
Nobody is talking about deducting sm
health insurance premiums as an employee - as an IC you are self-employed and is 100% deductible. Pull up the sched C on the IRS website. Not worried about being audited because we were audited in 2001 and I was deducting 100% then and it was no problem.
My kids have suffered greatly from me working at home with them home. SM
I have been working at home as an MT since my two kids were born. They are now 4 and 5. In the first few years, I had no help whatsoever. Their father was a bum who didnt work or take care of them while I worked. Your children get neglected while you work basically. And babies and young children desperately need your attention while they are home with you.
My kids have so many behavioral problems right now because of their neglect. I would try to set them up with things to occupy themselves, like coloring or a movie, etc.
I finally put them in day care and things have improved, but there are still a lot of issues because of the damage that was done. They still try to seek attention by doing bad things and they dont listen to me because they are so used to me letting them get away with a lot of stuff because I was too busy typing to discipline them in their early years.
If I could do it all over again, I would definitely have put them into day care from the very beginning.
My advice would be to seek PT care for your baby. Maybe you can do some work around her schedule a little when she is home, like when she takes a nap, and then bang out a bunch of work while she is in day care.
I enjoy being alone at home, but I've got one home sick from school already.
One on one with a kid is nice, too.
This summer has been absolutely crazy. I haven't had a moment to myself for three months because all of my kids were home traipsing their friends through the house and yard. My husband switched his work schedule, too, so he's around more than usual. However, I like not having to do two loads of dishes and four loads of laundry a day. There are no toys or clutter dragged out everywhere. I can clean the house first thing in the morning, and it stays clean until everyone gets home at night.
I even got to relax with a cup of coffee and watch TV for half an hour this morning, something I liked for a change instead of cartoons or kids' movies. I signed up for an online class that I've been wanting to take. I can exercise without being interrupted. Yesterday, I went to the mall and spent all my saved up gift cards. I got some clothes, books, bath stuff, and a new coffee mug. My work gets done a lot faster, too. Call me nuts, but I've never had the luxury of being alone in the house for 14 years. It's kinda nice. I love my family with all my heart, but I love having a few hours to myself each week, too.
Except now the cat and dogs have been acting weird since the kids went back to school. They must think that I need someone or something to clean up after and correct behavior on. They're getting into everything and racing around the house behind me.
my take is that she worked inhouse, not at home, and now wants to find out how to work at home. nm
x
Forget "per line." Your take-home pay should be taking home SM
roughly what it was before. If it is not, is it because your current pay rate for editing (which in many companies keeps changing as the VR system is developed) is too low or is it because your talents and skills are more for speed typing than speed editing?
If the first, discuss it with higherups, and go get a new job if you don't get the response you need. My last MTSO was secretly refiguring how production was counted to pay us less. I can accept hard reality, it was the secrecy that burned. Sometimes, though, it's just that the learning curves of individual editors and that of the system aren't in sync, and you end up temporarily making less.
If the second, though, recognize it as soon as possible and change to straight transcription work, in your company or a new one, for as long as you can find it.
As for why we aren't paid more for a higher skill, that's just the way the labor supply ball bounces. Best wishes.
I think she means she has wireless TO her home, not IN her home..nm
x
hospital at-home -vs- national at home
I have an interview today with a hospital...work in-house for 3 months, then go home, paid on production. I don't know as of yet what they pay production, so my question is to anyone who works for a hospital at home AND has also worked for a national at home...
Which would be the best to choose? The hospital offers great benefits, but the national I work for now also has benefits, not as good as the hospital, though. Any input would be most appreciated!
Ditto for me. Have done both outside the home and in the home. We all have
bad days, but I sure would not want to trade working at home for anything. Just being here for my kids is worth every bad day!
Does anyone use VR at home? nm
---
yes, I use VR at home
nm
At home may be possible
My husband has sleep apnea (although, since he lost some weight, he no longer has it). Depending on where you live, you may be able to be tested at home. We live in a populated area, and my husband was tested at home. A technician came to our home, showed him how to hook up the wires, and then picked up the machine the next day. He did, indeed, show sleep apnea (interrupted breathing spells many times a night), and was prescribed a sleep apnea machine. The machine is not a big deal, except maybe getting tangled up in the cords. Good luck!!
I have XP Home.
It is Works 2005 that came with my new Dell computer. I had Word that came with another version of Works that I had on older computer with XP. I don't think Word came with the first version of Works that I bought for an even older computer. I bought it separate for a Windows 98 OS, so maybe Works programs are different.
Help! I'm new with the home job!
I quit my job at a local hospital approximately 2 months ago to help care for some ill family members. I took a job with a home company and started out by having nothing but technical problems for the first few weeks, so I was unable to make any money. Once the technical difficulties were fixed, then there wasn't enough work! I finally gave up and quit the company after two full months and am getting ready to start another company in a few weeks. At my hospital job, I was making close to $15 an hour and unfortunately it doesn't seem like I can make even close to that with any home company unless I have been doing for 30 years! Any suggestions from anyone out there on what to do? I am still working "oncall" at my hospital position and can work as much as I want out of my home and be paid HOURLY rather than by the line, but this won't last long. How can I be compensated well and still have the flexibility of working out of my home?
MT from home
I understand how you feel, however if you were in my shoes and wanted to get back in the business, but this time from home, some info would help. I'm still keeping my other job, however I really enjoyed transcribing when I did it long ago and would like to be home a little more. Please, if you can refer me to anyone that can guide me to begin this venture, I'd appreciate it.
mt at home
46-year-old female
to my WFC/PS's home.....nm
x
yes, you can get a job after doing a home course - sm
I did just that with no hospital experience, however depending on who you go to work for it is like being thrown to the wolves and it is either sink or swim. But home study is probably how most people do it as it is. As Lil states though if you did not do any practice dictation (lots of it) then the odds are you wouldn't pass the tests anyway. Things also depend on the school you "attend", some have great reps, others poor. Choose wisely.
At home
Working at home is much much much better - definitely - choose your own hours - go for a walk and get some fresh air whenever you please - spend more time with the kids.
Who Goes Home
Supposedly Nigel from AI (one of the producers, I believe) was on Ryan's show this morning and he said basically we're in for a shock tonight. A lot of people I've talked on my AI list think Taylor is the one going home tonight.
wonder why it was in someone's HOME??
x
your home
Maybe this will make us all think more directly about what we do for a living. Remote employment is wonderful until it isn't any more!
QA at home
I am curious about doing QA at home. I am an RN and have been a medical transcriptionist, in the past, for 30 years. Any info for me please?
ER MT: Did you cat come home yet? Let us know. nm
It was my very first day home as an MT SM
I started in-house at Medquist in June 2001, and Sept. 11, 2001, was my first day working from home for them. Needless to say, I got very little work done that day. We were getting the kids ready for school and my husband was in the bathroom. I yelled, "Oh my gosh! Someone bombed the World Trade Center!" I didn't know it was a plane. I was watching the news when the second plane hit the south tower. I was in shock...I felt like the world turned upside down...totally lost all sense of security. It was very surreal.
Chickadee
Going home
I used to work for a local hospital as an employee and worked at home but eventually they outsourced all of work to the good ole MQ and we all lost our jobs.
The situation is very similar. The home MTs had to type 100 minutes per day and as long as we produced this, we made the top of the pay scale. Eventually, the in-house MTs went on the same production requirement and pay scale but they never did their amount of production required. This was the reason the work was outsourced.
They provided the equipment and we clocked in on the phone. We had no set schedule. This was an IDEAL position.
I loved working at home as an employee for this hospital but I ended up coming out to the National scene.
I am lucky because I work for a GREAT service, make GREAT money and have GREAT benefits. I think that I am in the minority of MTs who appreciate their job working for a national.
So, be careful on what you wish for and think long and hard before giving up your hospital position!!!! A good company is very hard to find.
Good Luck!!
At home
Your post really resonated with me and I am sure with others. Years ago in the inhouse environment, it was a pleasant place to work and make friends. Then came Y2K, the infamous Y2K and we were all shuffled out to make room for more profit oriented patient care services. They brought in the CEOs and "got rid" of the transcription managers who knew their jobs well and the industry as a whole. We then were given the "privilege" of working at home. Most of us knew our jobs well and could probably write books on the subject but were nonethless shipped out to home with cpl and we knew then we would be like hamsters on a wheel, going nowhere fast. We are better off at home. The inhouse atmosphere with the competition it created by being paid by the line was an umentionable horror scene. People you knew for years as your friends quickly became your arch rivals, trying to cut you off at the ankles at any chance they could in order to present themselves as superior in every way. It didn't matter if you were the best MT on the planet, this was WAR baby.  Being in the shelter of our homes and out of the hospital trenches has brought us some peace and solace but it divide an industry that used to be friendly, amicable and very fertile ground for learning the ropes of MT.  Suffice it to say "divide and conquer."
At home........
I am chosen to be on a committee to decide on guidelines for us to type at home at the local hospital where I work. We have been waiting for this for a long time. I hope everything works out well for us as it has for you. I would love to be at home. Department politics - you can only take so much.
at home
I have been home for about 3 years now -went back to school to be an MT when my youngest was7 months old.. I was lucky to work for a small service right away and now I still work for a service and have my own account. I tried working nights in a hospital for more experience, but it was just too hard with 2 small children. This is much better and so flexible..I love being home
Will you be doing it from home then?
I once interviewed for a position, but they had an odd system. I'd be working in-house, and in addition to doing pathology dictation, they expected the MT to type in the lab techs' notes. The techs had access to the computer, were IN the computer doing their work, but it was too much work for them to type in 2-digit results for their lab findings. They wanted to write them and have the MT put them in the system as a separate step. To me this was babying the techs and was a way for the techs to be off the hook if they recorded a result wrong. It was very inefficient since I would have to find the pathology report after the fact and add these other findings.
I don't think they could do that to you if you're working from home.
You'll need a lab book, that's for sure.
I don't know how any of the MTs at home with - s/msg
small children manage to stay focused enough to do a full day's work! My cat is constantly wanting this or that, or purposely sitting in front of my monitor so as to obstruct my view and force my attention. If it's so hard to keep a cat out of my hair, I can only imagine (and shudder) at what it must take to keep a toddler occupied while trying to work. And I've been doing MT for a long, long time. Trying to learn new software, deal with the inevitable glitches that go with getting dialed-in to a new job, and trying to look up words, addresses, listen, decipher what an ESL neurosurgeon is mispronouncing, build a word-expander and macro base, etc. etc., all while having to keep tabs on a small, active child, would be very demanding. If I wanted a "fun" sideline, I myself would probably consider art, jewelry-making, or maybe writing poetry or children's books. Or else possibly starting a blog site. But medical transcription? Nuh-uh.
little one at home
I also have a son, he is 3-years-old. Busy body...wow, what a change in life....some stress over menopaus, I laugh with kidopause.....tell me how you work around him. If you don't mind. I am hoping that Jaedyn will be in school soon...but as far now, he is learning from me....
from home
I work at home on a Dictaphone platform, which I have personally found to be the best quality.
Go home
If you have been typing for 10 years, then getting another home transcription job is no problem. If this one does not work out, start applying with reputable companies and still stay home. I wouldn't miss my kids' young years for anything.
How is the pay? Can it be done from home? (nm)
x
They get more out of me from home.
I transcribe more lines now that I am home than at work. At work, there were constant distractions. I was asked to answer phones, perform other duties as applicable, etc. This goes far beyond just us. What about physician offices having a sign-in sheet? I've read names before me at every appointment I go to on those sheets! What about the pharmacy yelling people's names when their meds are ready for those of us sitting there waiting?
The only way to protect our healthcare privacy woud be to use social security numbers and birthdates instead of patient names. Just my idea... But, one number out of whack makes for a mess just like the poor John Smith or Mary Jones who almost always have some form of mix-up. I don't know the answer.
MT at home
If you want to do this job the way it is supposed to be done, you best go to MT school. You need to gain a better knowledge of what you're doing. Even though you did it in an office before, that doesn't necessarily mean that you qualify as a "MT". Most companies won't even hire anybody that did transcription work while working as a medical assistant, nurse, etc. They want "MTs".
At-Home....
I may WAYYY more on production than hourly. I make 25-28.00 an hour and I haven't found anywhere that pays that much, so I stick with production.
HAVE to vent about BF before HE gets home!
I thought this one was fitting! LOL! My BF is supposed to watch the kids from 8pm to 10pm and put them to bed so I can work. Tonight will be 2nd night in a row that he HAS to work on a friends truck in the garage....guess it can't wait til the weekend even though he doesn't have all the parts for it....MAJOR frustrating. Because of HIM (kids!) and the tornadic thunderstorm last night I was only able to "work" for about an hour, I gave up, and shut down. Geez, I'm not looking forward to tonight!
People usually do what they would rather do. If she would rather be at home, she would be there.
Mrs. Twitty is in Aruba because she wants to be there and she personally does press conferences because she wants to. No one demands her to be Aruba nor do they ask her to do her press appearances. Lots of families have lost loved ones and have had representatives speak for them because they cannot bear to talk in their time of grief. Mrs. Twitty loves to talk and talk. I am not being judgemental. The facts cannot be disputed. She is on TV a lot and I have only seen her shed tears about her daughter once. The rest of the time she is mad at the system in Aruba. She conveniently forgets about the system that allowed her daughter to go to Aruba and drink without dependable chaperones or she signed off on her daughter going to Aruba with non-chaperones. Those are facts in the case. Can't help but notice as I flip from channel to channel and see Mrs. Twitty. Not so much her father or step-father.
I agree with everything you are saying as far as going home, but......
If Natalee went away to college in the fall, would she have her mother to watch over her every decision and if something happened to her, that makes it her mother's fault for sending her to college, where everyone knows there is partying and drinking going on????
Does anyone do any other at-home work other than MT?
I need to get more work but don't want to go back to an office atmosphere. Any ideas would be appreciated.
Kids at home?
Do your kids stay at home and how old are they? I have three, one that is 9, 4, and 1, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to type this summer. I am considering a sitter once school starts, so I will be all aone during the day. What do you do?
at-home work
Hi there, I do web design, all self-taught through many, many hours on the "free website" places on the net over the years and help from my geek/techie friends ;) My sites are basic but luckily that is what my clients want. I really can't to all the fancy flash stuff yet! It pays very well by the hour but unless you have lots of clients, it only works out to an extra $100-200 a month once the basic site is designed and up and running. (I have only two clients at this time and its basically maintenance and small changes here and there to the coding). Its fun and interesting but if you really want to get away from a computer, this isn't a good choice! All day medical typing then a couple more hours web design can be hard on the eyeballs after a while! Another suggestion, my DH works full time and has a cleaning business (cleaning offices) on the side but that only can be done when the business is closed so that means weekends or nights. Best of luck!!
at-home work
In case you see this post twice - another person asked this question as well so I will repost my reply here too :)
I do web design, all self-taught through many, many hours on the "free website" places on the net over the years and help from my geek/techie friends ;) My sites are basic but luckily that is what my clients want. I really can't to all the fancy flash stuff yet! It pays very well by the hour but unless you have lots of clients, it only works out to an extra $100-200 a month once the basic site is designed and up and running. (I have only two clients at this time and its basically maintenance and small changes here and there to the coding). Its fun and interesting but if you really want to get away from a computer, this isn't a good choice! All day medical typing then a couple more hours web design can be hard on the eyeballs after a while! Another suggestion, my DH works full time and has a cleaning business (cleaning offices) on the side but that only can be done when the business is closed so that means weekends or nights. Best of luck!!
Working from home
 When I get all the nosey/rude comments about working from home, I gave up justifying it and only now say..."It works for me, I don't even have to get dressed and can make a ton of money working from by bedroom, using all the high tech equipment that allows me to do so"..leaves it up for interpretation and usually shut's them up
working from home!
 I've been working from home since it was first allowed, can't really remember the exact year, but for sure no later than 1984. My family has always said, "get a real job", "why are you stuck at home, go work at an office where you can be around people", and on and on and on and on, ad infinitum!!! I don't really have "friends" anyway because I've always been a hermit. But guess what, now the only members of my family left alive are my brother and my sister and they STILL say I should get a real job!! I just give them a disgusted look and say "yeah....I really want to have to deal with traffic jams, proper clothing regulations, no smoking rules, break time rules, punching in an out....does that seem to fit my personality???" Of course they say, "well I can see your point". However that does not keep them from saying it again some time later. Guess it is never ending, so just ignore it and laugh at them. That is all it deserves is a good laugh!!! Quite honestly, I think they are jelous.
** 
MT working at home
Ihave to tell you that in order to do MT work you have to really LOVE the job because of the long hours and the amount of research that you need to do on the reports. I am not trying to discourage you, as I was in your position not that long ago, but 'ya gotta love this job. Otherwise, there is no way to succeed. You won't make millions, and chances are you will make a pittance, but if you are enjoying it, then that is the best way to go into this.
I wish you much luck.
Gaile
Shopping for my home.
Need some bargains that end of summer brings.
On MT at home with kids...
I haven't read all the responses yet (I'm trying to get some work done tonight, too!), but I thought I'd just add this, in case one of the reasons you are thinking about doing this is to stay home with kids. If not, just ignore this. That's why I am doing it - I quit an office job when I had my second son, stayed home for a few years with both kids, but living on 1 income became increasingly difficult. Now my kids are preschool/school-aged, and I have been doing this for about a year, working 25 hours a week now. The biggest pro is the biggest con - you're home with your kids. Yes, I'm here if they need me, I can drop everything and pick a sick kid up from school, I don't have to pay for child care or feel guilty over child care.
That said, being here and working with head phones on is NOT the same as being here and paying attention to my kids, and boy do they know it! Very often, I find myself feeling so frustrated because no one is ever happy - the kids aren't happy because I'm not with them, my husband's not happy because he has to deal with the kids as soon as he gets home (of course he's also not happy that we don't have more money!), and I'm not happy because it takes me twice as long to get my lines in as it would if everyone would just leave me alone.
Can you tell I'm having a bad day? (I am so ready for school to start back up!) LOL! Some days are much better, and overall this is the best option for me. I can work in whatever clothes I like, take a break, answer the phone, etc. I can work with my cat curled up on my printer and my dog panting at my feet! I definitely don't miss office politics, panty-hose, and commuting. Sometimes I miss the company and the occasional office gossip, though. ;-)
Anyway, just be aware that if you are planning to work at home with kids, it really will take you much longer. I honestly don't know how people with very young children do this - unless they work through naps and early morning or late nights. I do mostly evening and weekend work, with a couple of hours during the day 3 days a week.
Good luck to you! Hope this helps!
Mel 
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