AT&T's Telecommuting Crackdown > It was mentioned here once

said by David:

Could even claim it as a tax write off because it would be needed for me to work.

said by TheWickerMan:

Not necessarily, at least not according to the person who did my taxes the one year.

At my job, we're allowed to connect from home to resolve production issues after hours (but not during our regular shift, hopefully someday.) I did not own a PC before they started allowing this, and I got tired of having to drive in every time something blew up in the middle of the night, so I went out and bought a PC.

Like you, I thought I'd be able to write it off as a business expense, but they told me it's only allowed if you have a room in your house that's designated as an office, and if there's anything like a TV in it, then it can't be considered an office. I wonder if it's the same for a radio or CD player, because then half the offices at my job are not offices by definition.

said by MrMaster:

You didn't own a PC to begin with?

said by TheWickerMan:

Not necessarily, at least not according to the person who did my taxes the one year.

At my job, we're allowed to connect from home to resolve production issues after hours (but not during our regular shift, hopefully someday.) I did not own a PC before they started allowing this, and I got tired of having to drive in every time something blew up in the middle of the night, so I went out and bought a PC.

Like you, I thought I'd be able to write it off as a business expense, but they told me it's only allowed if you have a room in your house that's designated as an office, and if there's anything like a TV in it, then it can't be considered an office. I wonder if it's the same for a radio or CD player, because then half the offices at my job are not offices by definition.

said by TheWickerMan:

This was ages ago, back around '95 or so. I had been thinking about getting one for awhile, but had been unable to afford it. But after countless times where I had to go back in to work because something blew up in the middle of the night, going another couple grand into debt didn't seem so bad.

I ended up buying a Packard Bell (I didn't know any better at the time) for about $2000. Back then, those cheap $300 Dells you see at Wal-Mart didn't exist.