I recently finished a series of articles about deducting office in the home expenses for your arts and crafts business on your tax return. However, if you own your home as opposed to renting it, I am not a big fan of taking this expense. That's because two large home related expenses (mortgage interest and property taxes) are allowed as a deduction on your Schedule A.
Of course, deducting them on the Schedule A doesn't serve to reduce self employment tax. My best advice is to read the instructions for the home office expense form and decide if you want to do the record keeping to substantiate the deduction or just use the Schedule A.
Renters usually don't itemize and in that case, taking a portion of your rent is a good deduction.
Image: Ken Hurst @ Dreamstime.com