I didn't realize they'd gotten rid of it. Thanks for correcting me (fyi....it was a deduction, not a credit). I prepared taxes on the side for a few yrs, but haven't been in the game for several so easy to miss the changes that don't affect me personally.
It was probably best they got rid of it because a lot of taxpayers were using this incorrectly and because of that, it was a audit trigger. For example, you mentioned you work 100% from home. That wasn't a qualifier for getting the deduction. The factor that tripped up most when they were audited, is that the space had to be used 100% exclusively for work. e.g...I remember reading of an instance where a guy got audited. He worked exclusively from home too but they found he had a day bed in the "home office" that as used as an extra bed when they had company. Deduction was disallowed.
If you used the simplified method for the home office deduction then it drastically reduced the audit changes.