Continued Education, License Renewal, and Urine Testing

[ekallen79]

Hi. I am a nurse, and I paid for my licenses to be renewed this year. Also, I paid for my Advanced Cardiac Life Support class, as well as had to do urine drug testing for my job paid for by me but for my job this year. I don't see anywhere to put these deductions. It only gives me the option to choose an asset, which they are not.Please advise.

[AmandaR1]

It sounds like these are your employee job expenses. It also sounds like you may have been in this section, but needed to keep going past assets because all of the employee job expenses are entered in one series of questions.

Follow the instructions below to enter these:

1. Login and click Take me to my return
2. Select the Federal Taxes tab and then click the Deductions & Credit tab below it
3. Scroll down to the Employee Expenses section and click the blue hyperlink Show more
4. Click Start or Revisit next to Job Expenses for W-2
5. Next, you'll be asked about your 'occupation'. If you've already updated this section or added some job expenses, you may be on a summary screen and need to click 'Edit' next to the applicable 'Occupation'.
6. This section will ask about all employee job expenses and you'll need to answer through these questions until you come to the applicable expense category for your industry. On the last screen, you can enter miscellaneous items, including the expense description and amount.  
   

This deduction is limited (by 2% of your Adjusted Gross Income - AGI a subtotal on your tax return) and part of the itemized deductions, so  it can be difficult to see a result from entering small amounts and you must itemize to get any benefit.

[ekallen79]

Thank you. But how do i itemize deuctions to get more benefit? I cannot see any place for that, nor am i able to upgrade whilst in the middle of everything.

[ekallen79]

I have done the above but have had little to no benefit. I am participating in a drug monitoring program in order to keep my license and have paid thousands to participate. I would very much like to see me get some $ back from that.

[AmandaR1]

Well if your costs don't exceed about 2% of your income (AGI if you preview your 1040), it will be difficult for you to even start to qualify to deduct the costs. The amount that does exceed this goes into your itemized deductions total, but you only benefit from deducting these if the total is greater than the standard deduction of $6,300 (single person). Typically, you need to have mortgage interest, property taxes, or large investment fees to itemize. All of the questions under Federal Taxes - Deductions and Credits - listing of all expenses, which many of these are for the itemized deductions.  Then, when you click "wrap up deductions" button at the bottom of the listing of expenses on the next few screens you'll be able to check a box to "take itemized deductions" even if the software says the standard is better. Here you'll be able to see where you're at for a total with the itemized deductions and what the software has calculated to be best.

[AmandaR1]

See instructions for getting to this comparison, here: <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/3766758">https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/3766758</a>