United States Tax Help

RoyceSraphim

Short and simple.

January 2015, money was docked from my paycheck to get certified for this job. All this from the first two paychecks of said job.

How do I document this work expense for my taxes. I'm filing just for me and this is one of the few things I know I can get a deduction on.

davidsdurions

Let's see if I have this right. They paid you for your time but then charged you for training? Does this amount show up as an item on your W2? What kind of work is it? Teacher, firefighter, other?

Most likely if it is truly unreimbursed work related expense, you can use it on Line 21, Schedule A if you are otherwise able to itemize your deductions. If you are a teacher, you can deduct up to $250 above the line on the front page of Form 1040/A. If you are a firefighter, there may be state income tax rules that allow you special deductions.

It really depends on if the amount is non-compensated though.

RoyceSraphim

It was for getting a license, which was issued by them from the state before I was hired by them.

It was essential to being hired by the company and doing this work, but came out of my check after I was hired.

davidsdurions

Well, sounds like you'd just want to put it on Schedule A then. Make sure your itemized deductions exceed the standard deduction and you're good to go.

Darkewolfe

When you say it was taken out of your paycheck, if your salary was reduced by the amount of the certification, then it was never given to you as income, and thus was never taxed, so you don't get to use it as a deduction. Make sure you know which way it occurred.

RoyceSraphim

Damn, it was that way.

Darkewolfe

This sort of depends, though, you need to figure out which way it went. Like, union dues are, I think, still treated as part of your net pay, so you were taxed on it. Was the money deducted for the certification included in your total pay for the year or not?

RoyceSraphim

I'll check......but the company paid the fee during my training, and my first two checks split the difference.

localh77

Not sure this will make you feel any better, but for what it's worth, unless you're already itemizing (which probably rules out half of the population, if not more), and you have enough of these unreimbursed employee expenses that you exceed 2% of your income (which probably rules out 80 or 90% of the remaining population), they won't help you. So for future reference, if there's any way to get the employer to reimburse the expenses pre-tax, instead of just docking your pay post-tax, it should be a wash for them, and it'll work out better for you.

RoyceSraphim

@Darkewolfe It was an after tax deduction.

RoyceSraphim

I am sooooo fucked!