Shhh, Home Office and Other IRS Audit Trigger Secrets

People have worried for decades that home office deductions flag their returns for audit. Yet more than half of working Americans work for a small business or own one. 52% are home-based and many have home office space. Besides, with improved technology, some businesses are going virtual and recruiting employees from across the country, many of whom work from home offices.

[More from Forbes: 10 Ways To Become A Victim Of Tax Identity Theft]

Not claiming tax deductions can feel like lemon juice in a paper cut. And as the economy and workplace change, you may be leaving more on the table every year. Fortunately, starting with 2013 tax returns, the IRS is easing some home office deductions. See IRS simplifies the home-office deduction, for 2013.

In the meantime, the old rules apply for your 2012 return. A home office must be used regularly and exclusively for business. The deduction is limited to income from the business. For more rules, see Don’t Try This at Home: The ABCs of Home Office Or Vacation Home Rental Deductions. There’s nothing wrong with claiming them if you meet all these rules. But don’t claim them if you don’t.

There are many old wives tales about what triggers an audit: home office deductions, passive losses, schedule C (sole proprietorship) activities, etc. You can’t predict the trigger (and you can drive yourself crazy trying). But be reasonable about every item on your return. If you don’t have a solid home office claim with good records, don’t claim it. If your money-losing sole proprietorship is really just a hobby, treat it as such.

[More from Forbes: 10 Things You Should Know About The Fiscal Cliff Deal]

Consider cost-benefit too. Home office deductions involve filling out a 43-line form (Form 8829) with complex calculations of allocated expenses, depreciation and carryovers of unused deductions. It may be easier next year, since a streamlined form will be used for the simplified home office deduction on 2013 returns.

But are there really audit triggers? At least there are dos and don’ts, including these:

1. Report Each Form 1099. Enough said.

2. Report Each Form K-1. As with Forms 1099, don’t ignore them.

3. If You Can, Avoid Schedule C. Remember, Schedule C is the primary place the IRS can audit “hobby” losses.

4. Use Care With Noncash Charitable Donations. If you make them, scrupulously follow the forms, especially Form 8283. Don’t get too greedy with valuations.

[More from Forbes: 15 Ways To Invite An IRS Audit]

5. Pay S Corporation Wages. If you own an S corporation, make sure the company pays you a fair wage.

6. Beware Real Estate Losses. Keep good records of how much time you spend, since it can influence whether your losses are “active” or “passive.”

7. Avoid Excessive Travel And Entertainment. Even if your income is high, high travel and entertainment expenses for business can make you stick out. Consider carefully if you really meet the business purpose tests before you claim it.

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Braun says he used Fla clinic owner as consultant

NEW YORK (AP) — Milwaukee Brewers slugger Ryan Braun said the person who ran the Florida clinic being investigated by Major League Baseball was used only as a consultant on his drug suspension appeal last year.

"I have nothing to hide," Braun said in a statement released by his representatives on Tuesday night.

Earlier in the day, Yahoo Sports reported the 2011 NL MVP's name showed up three times in records of the Biogenesis of America LLC clinic. Yahoo said no specific performance-enhancing drugs were listed next to his name.

The Miami New Times recently released clinic documents that purportedly linked Alex Rodriguez, Gio Gonzalez, Melky Cabrera and other players to purchases of banned drugs from the now-closed anti-aging center.

Rodriguez and Cabrera were on the list with Braun that also included New York Yankees catcher Francisco Cervelli and Baltimore Orioles infielder Danny Valencia.

Braun said his name was in the Biogenesis records because of an issue over payment to Anthony Bosch, who ran the clinic near Miami.

"There was a dispute over compensation for Bosch's work, which is why my lawyer and I are listed under 'moneys owed' and not on any other list," Braun said.

"I have nothing to hide and have never had any other relationship with Bosch," he said. "I will fully cooperate with any inquiry into this matter."

On Tuesday, MLB officials asked the Miami New Times for the records the alternative newspaper obtained for its story.

Asked specifically about Braun's name in the documents before the five-time All-Star released his statement, MLB spokesman Pat Courtney said: "Aware of report and are in the midst of an active investigation in South Florida."

Braun tested positive during the 2011 postseason for elevated testosterone levels. He maintained his innocence and his 50-game suspension was overturned during spring training last year when arbitrator Shyam Das ruled in favor of Braun due to chain of custody issues involving the sample.

With that, Braun became the first major leaguer to have a drug suspension overturned.

"During the course of preparing for my successful appeal last year, my attorneys, who were previously familiar with Tony Bosch, used him as a consultant. More specifically, he answered questions about T/E ratio and possibilities of tampering with samples," Braun said.

The T/E ratio is a comparison of the levels of testosterone to epitestosterone.

Braun led the NL in homers (41), runs (108) and slugging percentage (.595) last season while batting .319 with 112 RBIs and 30 stolen bases. He finished second to San Francisco catcher Buster Posey in MVP balloting."

Cervelli, who spent nearly all of last season in Triple-A, posted a statement on Twitter later Tuesday night.

"Following my foot injury in March 2011, I consulted with a number of experts, including BioGenesis Clinic, for (cont)," Cervelli posted, "(cont)legal ways to aid my rehab and recovery. I purchased supplements that I am certain were not prohibited by Major League Baseball."

An email sent to Valencia's agent was not returned.

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Richard III 'still the criminal king'

Richard III on stage and screen

Richard III on stage and screen

Richard III on stage and screen

Richard III on stage and screen

Richard III on stage and screen

Richard III on stage and screen

Richard III on stage and screen

Richard III on stage and screen

Richard III on stage and screen

Richard III on stage and screen

Richard III on stage and screen

Richard III on stage and screen

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Dan Jones: Richard III's remains found; some see chance to redeem his bad reputation


• Jones says the bones reveal and confirm his appearance, how he died and his injuries


• Nothing changes his rep as a usurper of the Crown who likely had nephews killed, Jones says


• Jones: Richard good or bad? Truth likely somewhere in between

Editor's note: Dan Jones is a historian and newspaper columnist based in London. His new book, "The Plantagenets" (Viking) is published in the US this Spring. Follow him on Twitter.

(CNN) -- Richard III is the king we British just can't seem to make our minds up about.

The monarch who reigned from 1483 to 1485 became, a century later, the blackest villain of Shakespeare's history plays. The three most commonly known facts of his life are that he stole the Crown, murdered his nephews and died wailing for a horse at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. His death ushered in the Tudor dynasty, so Richard often suffers the dual ignominy of being named the last "medieval" king of England -- in which medieval is not held to be a good thing.

Like any black legend, much of it is slander.

Richard did indeed usurp the Crown and lose at Bosworth. He probably had his nephews killed too -- it is unknowable but overwhelmingly likely. Yet as his many supporters have been busy telling us since it was announced Monday that Richard's lost skeleton was found in a car park in Leicester, he wasn't all bad. In fact, he was for most of his life loyal and conscientious.

Dan Jones

To fill you in, a news conference held at the University of Leicester Monday confirmed what archaeologists working there have suspected for months: that a skeleton removed from under a parking lot in the city center last fall was indeed the long-lost remains of Richard III.

His official burial place -- under the floor of a church belonging to the monastic order of the Greyfriars -- had been lost during the dissolution of the monasteries that was carried out in the 1530s under Henry VIII. A legend grew up that the bones had been thrown in a river. Today, we know they were not.

What do the bones tell us?

Well, they show that Richard -- identified by mitochondrial DNA tests against a Canadian descendant of his sister, Anne of York -- was about 5-foot-8, suffered curvature of the spine and had delicate limbs. He had been buried roughly and unceremoniously in a shallow grave too small for him, beneath the choir of the church.

He had died from a slicing blow to the back of the head sustained during battle and had suffered many other "humiliation injuries" after his death, including having a knife or dagger plunged into his hind parts. His hands may have been tied at his burial. A TV show aired Monday night in the UK was expected to show a facial reconstruction from the skull.

Opinion: What will the finding of Richard III mean?

In other words, we have quite a lot of either new or confirmed biographical information about Richard.

He was not a hunchback, but he was spindly and warped. He died unhorsed. He was buried where it was said he was buried. He very likely was, as one source had said, carried roughly across a horse's back from the battlefield where he died to Leicester, stripped naked and abused all the way.

All this is known today thanks to a superb piece of historical teamwork.

The interdisciplinary team at Leicester that worked toward Monday's revelations deserves huge plaudits. From the desk-based research that pinpointed the spot to dig, to the digging itself, to the bone analysis, the DNA work and the genealogy that identified Richard's descendants, all of it is worthy of the highest praise. Hat-tips, too, to the Richard III Society, as well as Leicester's City Council, which pulled together to make the project happen and also to publicize the society and city so effectively.

However, should anyone today tell you that Richard's skeleton somehow vindicates his historical reputation, you may tell them they are talking horsefeathers.

Back from the grave, King Richard III gets rehab

Richard III got a rep for a reason. He usurped the Crown from a 12-year old boy, who later died.

This was his great crime, and there is no point denying it. It is true that before this crime, Richard was a conspicuously loyal lieutenant to the boy's father, his own brother, King Edward IV. It is also true that once he was king, Richard made a great effort to promote justice to the poor and needy, stabilize royal finances and contain public disorder.

But this does not mitigate that he stole the Crown, justifying it after the fact with the claim that his nephews were illegitimate. Likewise, it remains indisputably true that his usurpation threw English politics, painstakingly restored to some order in the 12 years before his crime, into a turmoil from which it did not fully recover for another two decades.

So the discovery of Richard's bones is exciting. But it does not tell us anything to justify changing the current historical view of Richard: that the Tudor historians and propagandists, culminating with Shakespeare, may have exaggerated his physical deformities and the horrors of Richard's character, but he remains a criminal king whose actions wrought havoc on his realm.

Unfortunately, we don't all want to hear that. Richard remains the only king with a society devoted to rehabilitating his name, and it is a trait of some "Ricardians" to refuse to acknowledge any criticism of their hero whatever. So despite today's discovery, we Brits are likely to remain split on Richard down the old lines: murdering, crook-backed, dissembling Shakespearean monster versus misunderstood, loyal, enlightened, slandered hero. Which is the truth?

Somewhere in between. That's a classic historian's answer, isn't it? But it's also the truth.

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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Dan Jones.

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Kiefer Sutherland honored by Harvard theater group

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — Golden Globe-winning actor Kiefer Sutherland has been named Man of the Year by Harvard University‘s Hasty Pudding Theatricals.

Sutherland will be roasted and receive his ceremonial pudding pot at a ceremony scheduled for Friday.

The 46-year-old Sutherland has been in dozens of films but is perhaps best known for his role as Jack Bauer in the television series “24,” for which he won Golden Globe and Primetime Emmy awards. He is currently starring in the television show “Touch.”

Last year’s Man of the Year was Jason Segel.

The 2013 Woman of the Year, Marion Cotillard (koh-tee-YAR’), was honored last week.

Hasty Pudding Theatricals is the nation’s oldest undergraduate drama troupe.

The awards are presented annually to performers who have made a lasting and impressive contribution to entertainment.

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Wall Street extends gains; Nasdaq up 1 percent

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Tuesday, with the Nasdaq gaining more than 1 percent, as investors sought bargains following the market's worst daily session since November and more companies reported results that beat Wall Street's expectations.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was up 114.81 points, or 0.83 percent, at 13,994.89. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was up 13.63 points, or 0.91 percent, at 1,509.34. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was up 30.81 points, or 0.98 percent, at 3,161.98.

(Reporting By Angela Moon; Editing by Kenneth Barry)

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TSX opens higher on RIM gain, European data

TORONTO (Reuters) – Canada’s main stock index opened higher on Tuesday, led by resource stocks, which climbed with commodity prices as data showed signs of a recovery in the European economy.

The Toronto Stock Exchange‘s S&P/TSX composite index <.gsptse> was up 47.85 points, or 0.38 percent, at 12,765.47 shortly after the open.</.gsptse>

A five percent gain in shares of BlackBerry also boosted the index. The stock had rallied on Monday after an upgrade by Bernstein Research. BlackBerry last week launched its new line of smartphones.

(Reporting by John Tilak; Editing by Jeffrey Hodgson)

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Tactics for Getting the I.R.S. on the Phone

If you need help with a federal tax question, the Internal Revenue Service offers free, live assistance by telephone. But you’ll probably need to be patient when you call.

Wait times when calling the agency have been growing, according to a recent report from the Government Accountability Office.

Millions of people call the IRS each year. Last tax season, the average wait time to speak to a live representative was 17 minutes, up from 12 minutes in 2011, the G.A.O. found.

And the percentage of callers seeking live assistance who actually received it was 68 percent, down from 72 percent the year before. The number of abandoned calls, which means the caller hangs up before speaking to someone, rose 20 percent.

The agency also has been slower to respond to mail. Of the 21 million pieces of paper correspondence the agency received in 2012, about 40 percent were considered “overage,” meaning that the I.R.S. did not respond within 45 days of receipt.

The dwindling service is the result of inadequate funding, according to a report by the National Taxpayer Advocate, the office charged with representing the interest of tax payers in dealing with the I.R.S. “The decline in these key measures is deeply disturbing,” the advocate’s annual report said, noting that telephone calls and correspondence are the two main ways taxpayers communicate with the I.R.S..

“Few government agencies or businesses would be satisfied if their customer service departments were unable to answer three out of every 10 calls,” the report added, “nor would they be content if nearly half of all correspondence took more than 6 1/2 weeks to answer.”

I called the toll-free number on Wednesday afternoon, on the first official tax filing day of the year, to see how long it would take to talk to someone. An operator answered the call quickly, but transferred me to another line, where a recorded voice told me my estimated wait time would be 10 to 15 minutes. I waited 14 minutes, according to the clock on my computer, before I was connected to a representative. That’s better than average, but still a fair bit of time spent on hold.

It’s not clear if there’s any best day of the week, or time of day, to call the toll-free number. The line, (800) 829-1040, is staffed from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., in all time zones in the United States.

Before I ended the call, I asked the I.R.S. representative if she could recommend the best time of day to telephone the agency, to get the shortest wait time. She suggested calling early in the morning.

An I.R.S. media spokesman didn’t respond to requests for suggestions about the best time to call, although he e-mailed some links to the agency’s Web site that provided a list of walk-in offices where you can go in person to get help.

Bonnie Speedy, vice president of the AARP Foundation Tax-Aide and a former member of the I.R.S. Advisory Council, suggests avoiding Mondays,  particularly first thing in the morning, when call volumes are typically heavy. Calls are routed depending on the complexity of the question, so a call seeking help with a technical tax matter will likely take longer than a simple inquiry about, say, when you can expect your refund check. (The foundation offers free tax preparation for low-to moderate-income taxpayers, especially those 60 and older, at nearly 6,000 locations.)

The tax-filing Web site Taxbrain advises that people call the I.R.S.  Tuesday through Thursday and suggests avoiding 8 a.m. to 9 a.m., and 4 p.m. to 5 p.m., in all time zones. It also helps to be polite and have any relevant documents handy when you call.

Have you sought tax help from the I.R.S.’s toll-free number? What was your experience?

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Vonn hospitalized after crash in super-G at worlds

SCHLADMING, Austria (AP) — Lindsey Vonn crashed during the super-G Tuesday and was taken to a hospital by helicopter after apparently hurting her right knee at the world championships.

The four-time overall World Cup champion lost balance on her right leg while landing after a jump. Her ski came off immediately, and Vonn slid off course and hit a gate before coming to a halt.

She received treatment on the slope for 12 minutes before going to the hospital. Her U.S. team had no immediate information on her condition.

The crash came almost exactly one year before the start of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

Vonn returned to the circuit last month after an almost monthlong break from racing to fully recover from an intestinal illness that put her in a hospital for two days in November.

Vonn trailed race winner Tina Maze of Slovenia by 0.12 seconds shortly before the crash.

The race, which was postponed for 3½ hours because of fog, resumed after another 15-minute delay. Several racers struggled with the conditions.

"It's not a very difficult course, but in some parts you couldn't see anything," Fabienne Suter of Switzerland said.

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'Stop whining about right-wing media'

Former vice president Al Gore promotes his new book, "The Future" on January 30, 2013 in New York City.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Al Gore says right-wing media help account for resistance to Democrats' policies


• President Barack Obama said media coverage could determine future of bipartisanship


• Howard Kurtz: Fox News, Rush Limbaugh have influence, but White House has bigger voice


• He says conservative media gained support because of belief established media leaned left

Editor's note: Howard Kurtz is the host of CNN's "Reliable Sources" and is Newsweek's Washington bureau chief. He is also a contributor to the website Daily Download.

(CNN) -- I never realized that the conservative media were so eye-poppingly powerful.

So mighty, in fact, that liberal politicians can't seem to stop talking about how they are running roughshod over the country.

Howard Kurtz

My response: Can we please stop the whining?

The latest to rant about the right is Al Gore. The former vice president told Charlie Rose that President Barack Obama had been cautious, and when the CBS anchor asked whether there was "a very hostile environment for progressive ideas," Gore had his culprit ready:

"Fox News and right-wing talk radio. In Tennessee there's an old saying if you see a turtle on a fence post you can be pretty sure it didn't get there by itself. And the fact that we have 24/7 propaganda masquerading as news, it does have an impact."

Watch: Why Geraldo Rivera's Senate hopes are an empty vault

OK, Gore doesn't like Fox. So he started what he hoped would be a liberal counterweight in Current TV, spent millions on such stars as Keith Olbermann, and ... the channel flopped. It was such a failure that he just sold it to Al Jazeera for an estimated personal take of $100 million.

Leave aside the obvious contradiction of a climate change crusader selling to a network largely financed by the petrodollar kingdom of Qatar. Whatever you think of Fox, Rupert Murdoch's network has been a financial success and Current TV was anything but. Isn't that the free market at work?

Watch: The media's gushing send-off for Hillary Clinton

Obama often invokes the conservative media, most recently in an interview with The New Republic. Asked about working with Republicans in his second term, the president said: "One of the biggest factors is going to be how the media shapes debates. If a Republican member of Congress is not punished on Fox News or by Rush Limbaugh for working with a Democrat on a bill of common interest, then you'll see more of them doing it."

Now it's true that Fox or Limbaugh can boost or batter any lawmaker, and that they can help drive a controversy into the broader mainstream media. But we're talking here about the president of the United States. He has an army, a navy and a bunch of nuclear weapons, not to mention an ability to command the airwaves at a moment's notice. And he's complaining about a cable channel and a radio talk-show host?

Limbaugh later offered this response: "If Fox News and I are the only thing keeping the Republicans from caving to Barack Obama on every issue, I'm not paid enough."

Watch: Does Sarah Palin have a future after Fox?

I have been through this before. It was on my "Reliable Sources" program, in the fall of 2009, that the White House declared war on Fox News. Anita Dunn, then the White House communications director, called Fox "the communications arm of the Republican Party" and said, "It is not really a news network anymore."

The resulting furor gave Fox months of fodder and was widely judged a tactical misstep that if anything elevated the network's role.

There are times when many Fox programs, including in the nonopinion hours, appear to be on a jihad against the administration. And these days, MSNBC can be counted on to defend the Democrats almost around the clock.

But let's face it: These are cable channels with relatively modest audiences, and their impact is sometimes exaggerated inside the Beltway echo chamber. After all, Obama handily won re-election despite the best efforts of Sean Hannity and Limbaugh.

Watch: New York Times censors company's vulgar name

What liberals sometimes forget is that the conservative media took root because many Americans felt the fourth estate was too left-wing. ABC, NBC, CBS, NPR, The New York Times and The Washington Post all strive for fairness, in my view, but there is little question that they have a social and cultural outlook that leans to the left. Collectively, they have far more weight than Fox, talk radio and The Wall Street Journal editorial page.

Right-wing pundits make a convenient foil, but at times Obama seems to magnify their importance. After all, he's got the biggest bully pulpit of all.

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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Howard Kurtz.

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Bolshoi ballet chief heads to Germany after attack

MOSCOW (AP) — The artistic director of the Bolshoi ballet said he knows who ordered an acid attack that left him with severe burns to his eyes and face but won’t say, voicing hope that investigators will soon name the perpetrator.

Sergei Filin checked out of a Moscow hospital Monday and headed to Germany for further rehabilitation.

Filin, 42, wore shades and a bandage on his head, and skin on his face was red and swollen from burns. But he spoke energetically and seemed to be in a good mood as he walked out of the hospital accompanied by his wife.

“My body is full of strength and energy,” he told reporters.

Filin earlier told Russian state television that he knew who ordered the attack but wouldn’t give names. “My heart tells me who did it,” Filin told Rossiya 24 television in an interview broadcast late Sunday.

He said that investigators would visit him in Germany as part of the continuing probe.

An attacker threw sulphuric acid in Filin’s face in Moscow on Jan. 17, as he was returning home from work.

“I felt enormous, unbearable pain,” Filin recalled in the television interview. “I fell face down in the snow and started rubbing my face and eyes with snow.”

His colleagues said the attack on Filin could be in retaliation for his selection of certain dancers over others for the prized roles.

The Bolshoi has been plagued by intrigue and infighting that have led to the departure of several artistic directors over the past few years.

Filin told reporters Monday as he was leaving the hospital that he’s still seeing as if through a mist as his eye treatment is continuing, and added that he will have to undergo further eye surgery in Germany.

“I don’t care about my face, my hair, my looks,” he said in the television interview. “I’m ready to be completely bald, look like a Frankenstein. It will have no impact on my heart, on my soul. All my inner self, all my energy is focused on recovering eyesight.”

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