xBoox

Create a Home Office Working Paper

Enter household costs, calculate the business-use portion, and prepare a reviewed Home Office claim.

Use the Home Office Working Paper to document household costs and calculate the portion related to business use. The Working Paper is independent of ordinary Expense Categories: it does not collect transactions from special Utility, Internet, or Property Tax accounts.

Before you begin

Enable Home Office in Settings > Business Profile > Additional Bookkeeping Features. Gather the bills, receipts, and other support for the period you want to calculate. If Home Office is disabled, its page remains available and links back to Business Profile.

Enter household expenses

  1. Open Accounting > Home Office.
  2. Select the reporting period. Preset periods show read-only From and To dates. Custom Range makes those dates editable but remains a preview and cannot be saved as a formal Working Paper.
  3. In Home Office Category, locate Utilities, Internet, Property Tax, Home Insurance, Condo/Association Fees, Mortgage Interest, Repairs & Maintenance, or Other Home Expense.
  4. Enter the gross amount, including applicable sales tax, in Total Paid. Rows with no amount do not contribute to the calculation.
  5. Select Tax when GST/HST tracking is enabled. The choices are limited to the active tax codes for the primary province selected in Business Profile, plus applicable non-taxable choices. Tax Amount CAD is calculated from Total Paid and is read-only.
  6. Enter Total Home Area and Office Area in square feet, or use the manual business-use percentage option. Save as Default stores only the area defaults for future periods.
  7. Review the gross business portion, recoverable GST/HST, and final claim.
  8. Select Create Working Paper.

The latest active Working Paper for the Workspace and period is retained with its calculation snapshot. A draft Working Paper does not affect financial reports.

How GST/HST affects the claim {#gst-hst}

The gross amount is the amount actually paid, including sales tax. This makes each row easy to compare with the original bill.

If the Workspace is GST/HST registered, xBoox calculates Tax Amount CAD from the tax-inclusive Total Paid amount and the selected Tax code. It then calculates only the federal GST/HST that may be recoverable as an input tax credit (ITC):

  • GST-only and HST treatments treat the entered tax as federal recoverable tax.
  • GST + PST in British Columbia treats only the GST portion as potentially recoverable. For a 12% combined amount, this is 5/12 of the entered tax.
  • GST + QST in Quebec treats only the GST portion as potentially recoverable.
  • PST and QST are not federal ITCs.
  • Exempt, zero-rated, out-of-scope, or unselected treatments do not create a recoverable ITC.
  • If the Workspace is not GST/HST registered, no ITC is deducted.

Example: household costs total $2,000.00, business use is 10%, and the business portion includes $9.52 of recoverable GST/HST. The gross business portion is $200.00. The Working Paper shows a Home Office expense claim of $190.48 and an ITC of $9.52. Together they equal the $200.00 gross business portion.

Compare the Working Paper with the original documents and your registration status. xBoox provides bookkeeping support and does not determine tax eligibility or file a tax return.

Manual Home Office postings and duplicate claims

6600 Home Office Expense is the final claim Category. It may be used for a claim calculated outside xBoox. Do not also post the same claim through Year End Review.

When xBoox detects a manual 6600 transaction or a manual Journal Entry in the same period, Year End Review explains that continuing may record the claim twice. The warning provides links to review Journal Entries and this Help Center article. If you review the records and intentionally continue, xBoox does not repeat the warning during that posting attempt.

In Bank Account-Based Tracking, a manual Expense to 6600 still requires Pay From. Simple Tracking does not require a payment account.

Sole Proprietor

The Working Paper provides calculation and tax-support information. It does not automatically create a Journal Entry.

Corporation

Create the Working Paper first, then open the Home Office item in Year End Review. The controlled Journal Entry:

  • debits 6600 Home Office Expense for the claim;
  • debits the GST/HST control account for the recoverable ITC, when applicable; and
  • credits Shareholder Loan for the gross business portion.

Once posted, the Working Paper cannot be replaced until that Year End Review action is reversed. Reverse it from Year End Review, not from the general Journal Entries list.

History and record keeping

Use Home Office history to inspect saved Working Papers. Its Search field updates the visible history rows without interrupting continuous typing. Saved snapshots retain the entered rows, Tax choices, Tax Amount CAD, areas, percentage, and calculated totals even if Workspace settings later change. Older snapshots may also retain notes and attachment references created by the earlier Working Paper interface.