No, you cannot claim union dues from previous years on your 2017 tax return. You can enter the union dues you paid in 2017 on your return if you are itemizing deductions. Unless you have a LOT of other deductions like mortgage interest, property tax, etc. the union dues will not change anything. They may not change anything even then.
Union dues are a job-related expense.
Only the amount of job-related expenses that are OVER 2% of your adjusted gross income get added to your list of itemized deductions, which still must exceed your standard deduction in order to make a difference on your return. This is kind of a hard deduction to get. If you need to enter these, go to Federal>Deductions and Credits>Employment Expenses>Job-Related Expenses.
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