Melanie is employed full-time as an accountant for a national hardware chain. She also has recently started a private consulting practice, which provides tax advice and financial planning to the general public. For this purpose, she maintains an office in her home. Expenses relating to her home for 2017 are as follows:

Real property taxes	$4,500
Interest on home mortgage	5,400
Operating expenses of home	1,125

Melanie's residence cost $368,500 (excluding land) and has living space of 2,000 square feet, of which 23% (460 square feet) is devoted to business. The office was placed in service in February 2016, and under the Regular Method, Melanie had an unused office in the home deduction of $550 for 2016. Assume there is sufficient net income from her consulting practice.

Click here to access the depreciation table to use for this problem.

a. What is Melanie's office in the home deduction under the Regular Method. Round your final answer to nearest dollar. $

b. What is Melanie's office in the home deduction under the Simplified Method $