What Are Job-Related Tax Deductions?
When the topic of business and job-related tax deductions come up, most people simply assume that you need to have your own business or be self-employed to be entitled to any deductions. While it’s true that business owners do receive a number of nice tax breaks, there is still the possibility that you may be entitled to some job-related tax deductions even if you work the 9 to 5 for an employer.
Job-Related Deductions
While not as generous as tax deductions available to business owners, the ability to deduct some job-related expenses can certainly add up. If you’re required to travel or conduct a lot of business outside of the office there’s a good chance your employer reimburses you for many of these expenses, but every company is different and you may be footing the bill for things that you could possibly claim as a deduction.
Before getting into the actual deductions we need to understand what the IRS considers unreimbursed employee expenses. Your expenses must have been required for you to carry out the job for which you were hired and must be what the IRS calls “ordinary and necessary.” This means the item or service is common and accepted in your line of work and is appropriate and helpful to your job. In addition, to be able to claim these deductions you must itemize on Schedule A, and your unreimbursed business expenses must total more than 2 percent of your adjusted gross income(AGI). To give you an idea, if you have an AGI of $40,000, your expenses need to be more than $800 before you could begin claiming any deductions.
Possible Deduction Categories
To give you a better idea of what types of expenses might qualify for unreimbursed job-related expenses, here is a brief overview. And again, these only qualify if your employer doesn’t already reimburse you.
- Legal fees related to doing or keeping your job.
- Licenses and regulatory fees as well as occupational taxes.
- Dues to professional groups, unions, or local trade groups.
- Education that is related to or required for employment.
- Work clothes and uniforms, and possibly upkeep costs.
- Subscriptions to professional journals and magazines related to your line of work.
- Medical examinations that are required by your employer.
- Depreciation on technology required to do your job.
- A home office or part of your home used regularly and exclusively for work.
Unfortunately, commuting expenses to get to and from your job are not a deductible expense, but if you do need to use your vehicle for work-related activities such as meetings, conferences, trade shows, or other travel, you may be able to deduct the actual expenses required for the trip or use the IRS standard mileage deduction.
Above all else, keep good records throughout the year. You may or may not reach the 2 percent threshold, but it’s worth keeping track just in case, and it’s a lot easier to tally up receipts at the end of the year rather than trying to come up with all of your expenses after the fact. If you’ve determined that you qualify for deducting some of these expenses you can look to Form 2106 or 2106-EZ. And of course, TurboTax will assist you with recording and claiming these unreimbursed job-related expenses.
Have product questions? We have your answers.
My husband have back child support if we filed jointly and I have a refund will the state automatically apply my refund to my husbands back child support?
is travel expence deductible public transpor 350.00 per month
Hi Lisa,
I work from home and everything in my home office has been supplied my me, is there a cap on how much i canclaim? also, if I have lost receipts, what can do?
Thanks!
I live in an apartment and have a 2 bedroom unit to use the second bedroom as my home office. I work exclusively from home and my company is not reimbursing me for this. Would I claim the difference in rent between a 1 bedroom and 2 bedroom as my deduction? Thanks!
This past year my business partner and I took out a life insurance policy on each other. This is to enable the survivor to effectively buy out the opposing partners shares if ever invoked. This is paid 100% out of personal pocket not by the inc. Is any of the annual fee for the policy personal deductible due its business relevance?
HI KIM. MY QUESTION IS.CAN I CLAIM LOSE OF REVENUE OR ANY OTHER DEDUCTIONS . IF I WORK OVER 40 HOURS A WEEK AND MY COMPANY IS ALLOWED TO EXEMPT ME FROM OVER TIME PAY AFTER 40 HOURS DUE TO A INTERSTATE FEDERAL LAW.EVEN THOUGH MY WORK CONSISTS OF OTHER JOBS NOT ASSOCIATED TO THAT LAW.AND THEY GET AWAY WITHOUT PAYING OVERTIME.
Hi Bob,
Unfortunately there is not a tax break for your specific case. There are 350 tax deductions and credits so make sure you file your taxes. You may be eligible for some of these tax breaks.
http://turbotax.intuit.com/
Thank you,
Lisa Greene-Lewis
Is it true that you can claim round trip miles for running a sales rt if you use a computer and phone at home before and after your work day? Thanks, Tom
Hi Tom,
Yes, you may be able to claim it as long as the mileage is directly related to your sales business, like meeting with your clients and as long it is not mileage to go to a regular place of business, which it sounds like your regular place of business may be your home. TurboTax will guide you through claiming your mileage.
Thank you,
Lisa Greene-Lewis
Dependent exemption question. I have not worked for 2 yrs and we are married. My husband files as married filing jointly. We were advised he could not claim me(his wife) as a dependent as he pays for our house we are paying for, the car we are paying for as well as all other expenses. I don’t make any income as we only have one vehicle so it’s impossible for me to get a job. We live in North Carolina. Could you please help in this information. Thank you, Kim
Hi Kim,
A taxpayer cannot claim their spouse as a dependent, however if you file married filing jointly, he will still get an exemption of $3,700 on the tax return for you, which is the same amount as the dependent exemption.
Thank you,
Lisa Greene-Lewis