Thank you so much for your help!
So what you're saying is, in theory, I could use the home office deduction for New York State but I'd need proof that my employer requires a home office? For covid era, my employer doesn't care whether I get my work done in a separate home office or on my kitchen table, just as long as I get it done. For my own sanity, I do have a home office where I work remotely. I'm a bit confused. Are you saying my employer would have to have in writing that I need a home office to do my job, as opposed to working from my couch or kitchen table, in order to take the home office deduction?
On the NY State Return, I don't see a form or a field that says something to the effect of "this is where you enter the home office deduction from your federal return." The only itemized form I found is IT-196 and there's no distinction between home office deduction versus W2 work-related expense deductions. How would the state know whether I have a home office deduction or I'm just entering W2 work related expenses? As you alluded, the "Unreimbursed Employee Expenses field on IT-196 is where I presume the home office deduction would be included, amongst other expenses.
At the moment, from what I see, TurboTax is calculating that my NY State standard deduction is higher, so I'm not sure what government and TurboTax worksheets are present when the NY State itemize deduction is higher. If it was higher, maybe that would answer my question there.
Edit: After reading through the IT-196 instructions, I see there are separate worksheets. But because my standard deduction is currently higher in my NY state tax return, TurboTax is not showing me the government or TurboTax worksheets and, therefore, I'm not sure what the itemized deduction value is and how much it differs from the standard deduction value. If I knew how much the itemized deduction value is, that would help a great deal. If the two values were far off, that would tell me don't waste time entering in more deductions knowing that it won't surpass the standard deduction. Unfortunately, TurboTax doesn't include these worksheets, at least in my case.
