For your first residential phone
line, you may be able to deduct long distance calls or extra features if needed
for business purposes. You cannot deduct basic phone service for the first
phone line.
A second phone line or service
used exclusively for business would be a deduction, including the phone and
necessary accessories.
If you own a business, you will
report this as a business expense. If you are an employee, you will report
phone expenses as part of your itemized deductions subject to the 2% of
adjusted gross income limit. TurboTax will help you calculate the correct deduction
and determine where it goes.
To enter your telephone expense for self-employment:
·
Type in business expenses in the search box in the right hand
corner of your screen
·
Click jump to business expenses.
Click Start/Update on Common Business Expenses (See the
attached screenshot below. Click to enlarge.)
Scroll to Utilities
Job-related
expenses are reported on Form 2106 (Employee Business Expenses).
1.
Open (continue) your return in TurboTax.
(To do this, sign in to TurboTax and click the orange Take me to my
return button.)
2.
In the search box, search for 2106 and
then click the "Jump to" link in the search results.
3.
At the Tell us about the occupation you
have expenses for screen, enter your occupation.
4.
Click Continue and follow the
onscreen instructions.
If you land on
the Job-Related Expenses Summary screen instead, you can
either Edit expenses for an existing job or click Add
Another Occupation to enter expenses for a new one.
