If you are a renter and own a home-based business, you may be able to write off a portion of your rent. Using the home office deduction, you can deduct rent, utilities and other general home costs using the size of your home office as a percentage of your overall home. For example, if your home office is 100 square feet and your home is 2,000 square feet, you can deduct 5% of your rent payments (100 ÷ 2,000 = 5%).