Unless you have one of those Air conditioner/ computer combos that Best Buy is selling then I doubt it. There is a link somewhere in this thread to an IRS publication that explains how to allocate costs via sq. footage of your home office.
Jeffery, As trdrmc stated, there are guidelines set forth by the IRS for allocating expenses. If you have a circumstance that you feel is supportable, you may use an alternative. Ex. taking a meter reading in the morning as you begin trading and another reading after you finish your day. Multiply it by the number of trading days in the month. Take the bill for that month and divide the total usage into the usage for the trading period and use that allocation percentage for your bill. Another twist is that power during the day is generally charged a higher rate than at night which throws another wrench into the computation. If you have multiple computers, monitors,TV's, etc. in use during the day, take a picture of the workstation area to substantiate the items. Another variable is a window/wall air conditioner in the trading room. The AC will cool only the trading room and not the whole house. If you don't have AC or turn off the AC in the rest of the house during the trading period, that is another reason to allocate a greater percentage to the trading business. The basic principle is to overkill on the support of the deduction. If you just say it's that way without any documentation, you are asking for a full-fledged line by line audit. Keep in mind the above approach is aggressive and increases the potential for scrutiny Have a great day all, Cracked
Paying attention to detail may very well be the way to go versus a straight per square foot allocation. Thanks.