Joel Spolsky (<a href="http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2007/04/13.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2007/04/13.html</a>) has a more convincing explanation for why cubicles are so popular.<p>As far as the IRS is concerned, improving your office space is not a business expense, so you can't deduct it; the most you can do is depreciate the cost over time and take the depreciation as an expense. If you build walls to create separate offices, you have to depreciate the cost over forty years. If you buy cubicles and install them, you can depreciate the cost over only seven years. If you <i>lease</i> the cubicles, the monthly lease <i>is</i> considered a business expense, and you can deduct all of it right away.