If you manage a business out of your home, you may be overlooking an extra tax break. Say you decide to put in a security system that covers both your office and the rest of your house. You can then deduct the portion of the systems cost equal to the percentage of your house that your office represents. So if the office takes up a third of your home, you can deduct a third of the cost of the installation and monitoring fees. There are two ways to expand that write-off even further.

Strategy No. 1: Save even more by installing the system in two stages. For example, if installation will be the biggest cost, you could put the security system in your office first. The complete cost of the system would then be deductible against your business. The next year, you could extend the system to cover the rest of the house. This cost would not be deductible, but your total outlay, after taxes, would be far cheaper.

Strategy No. 2: Alternatively, you might take the aggressive position that the entire house must be secured to protect your valuable business assets. Therefore, it might be reasonable to write off 100 percent of the cost of a business expense. This argument has the best chance to fly when your home office is the location for full-time business activities, as opposed to a sideline business.