If you are using the option of itemizing in your 1040, your personal tax return, and you qualify according to the following Home office deduction criterias, then home office deduction can be a big impact on the amount of your refund. Here are the basis' of qualifying for a home office deduction:

1. Your home office has to be used in a trade or business activity:  This basis states that you can take a deduction only if you use your home for a profit-seeking activity that is a trade or business. To illustrate, if you use part of your home to manage your personal investments, you cannot take a home-office deduction.
2. Your home has to be used regularly And also use your home office exclusively for business: This basis states that you must regularly make use of a room or other separately identifiable area of your home only for your business. The condition is that you cannot use the area for both business and personal purposes. For example, an officer who writes office letters & drafts at the dining table cannot claim a home-office deduction.
3. Is your home your principal place of business: According to this basis, if you conduct your business at more than one location, the rules have a different shade to them. The way you determine your principal place of business is based on the relative importance of the activities performed at each location, or the time spent at each location. Your home office also will qualify as your principal place of business if you use it regularly for administrative activities and you have no other fixed location where you conduct substantial administrative activities.
4. Keep in mind that is your home used as a place to meet your clients or other business associates in the normal course of your business? medical practitioners, laweys and other professionals who maintain offices in their homes generally do meet this requirement. The point to be noted is that using your home for occasional meetings and telephone calls is not sufficient. But, the part of your home that you use exclusively and regularly to meet patients, clients or customers does not have to be your principal place of business.
5. This is a very important point that you should never ignore.The basis is that if you are an employee are you using your home office for the convenience of your employer:This means that if your employer has provided you with an office to perform your duties & instead you are using your home premises to perform your offical functions, then it doesn't allow you to qualify for home office deduction.
6. Last, but not the least basis is the construction location criteria: Its okay to deduct expenses for a separate free-standing structure, such as a studio, garage or barn. The structure in question does not have to be your principal place of business or a place where you meet patients, clients or customers.

So, based on the above criterias cinsider yourself for becoming eligible to grab a very important deduction of home office expenses deduction.