Home Office Use Proportion Worksheet

Who this is for

Work out the business share of running your home. You enter the rooms or floor area you use for work and the hours you use them, list the household costs for the year, and the sheet applies both proportions to each cost line. It shows the working, so you or your accountant can see how every figure was reached.

Sole traders and freelancers who work from a room at home and want a clear, repeatable record of how they arrived at the business share of household bills.

What this helps you track

• The room count and floor area of the home and of the space used for work
• Hours of business use against the hours the room is available
• Each household cost line for the year, with its annual cost
• The combined business-use percentage for each line
• The business share of each cost and the total

How to use it

1. Count the rooms in the home and the rooms used for business, and measure the total and business floor areas if you prefer that basis.
2. Write the hours per week the space is used for business and the hours per week it is available at all.
3. List each household cost for the year, such as heating, electricity, insurance or rent, with its annual figure from your bills.
4. Choose rooms or area as the basis for each line. Check the rules where you are for which methods are accepted.
5. The percentages and business shares are worked out in the browser and the workbook; on paper, multiply the space share by the time share.
6. Keep the sheet with the bills you used, and redo it if your working pattern or home changes.

Formats

• Printable PDF (A4 and US Letter)
• Fillable PDF with form fields
• Fill in online, saved in your browser
• Excel / Google Sheets workbook

The printable is laid out inside a box that fits both A4 and US Letter, so the two files are identical and neither one is scaled. The fillable PDF has real form fields. The workbook uses plain formulas only — SUM, IF, COUNTIF and the like — so it opens in Excel, LibreOffice and Google Sheets without anything breaking, and every calculated cell is grey so you can see which figures it worked out.

How to print

Download the A4 or US Letter file to match the paper in your printer, open it in a PDF reader and print at 100% — not "fit to page", which shrinks the writing space. Both files leave a 14 mm margin, which clears the unprintable edge on home printers. To print the online version with your entries in it, use the Print this sheet button, which prints only the sheet and none of the page around it. More on printing.

Questions

Should I use rooms or floor area?

The sheet calculates both so you can compare them. Which one is acceptable, and whether a flat-rate method is available instead, depends on the rules where you are, so check those or ask your accountant before relying on either.

Why multiply by the time proportion?

Because a room used for work part of the week is used for other things the rest of the time. The combined figure applies the space share and then the share of hours, which is a common way of showing the working.

Can some cost lines be left at the full amount or at nothing?

Yes. If a cost is wholly business, such as a separate business phone line, keep it off this sheet and record it directly. If a cost has no business element, leave it out.

What if my hours vary from week to week?

Use an average from your diary or timesheets over a typical period and note how you worked it out in the notes, so the figure can be explained later.