Employer Phone Replacement Cost

[CobolCJava]

I am a W-2 employee with a company provided phone. My phone got damaged this year, so I had to get a replacement one using my own money. A few questions:

1. Would this qualify as an employment related expense?

2. Even if the answer is yes, these are no longer deductible. Is that correct?

3. Would this qualify as an employment related expense for California state filing?

Thanks.

[xmasbaby0]

Sorry---W-2 employees cannot deduct job-related expenses on a federal return.  Job-related expenses were eliminated as a federal deduction for W-2 employees by the tax laws that changed for 2018 and beyond.  Your state tax laws might be different in AL, AR, CA, HI, MN, NY or PA.

If you live in a state that lets you deduct job-related expenses, the information will flow from your federal return  to the state return, so enter it in Federal>Deductions and Credits>Employment Expenses>Job-Related Expenses

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/tax-credits-deductions/employees-deduct-...

[Vanessa A]

You are correct, employment related expenses are no longer deductible on your federal return.

Yes, for CA it would count as an employment related expense.  To benefit from the employment related expenses, you would need to itemize your return instead of taking the standard deduction.  Also, employment related expenses are only deductible for the amount that is greater than 2% of your Federal AGI.  This means if your federal AGI was $100,000 for the year, only employment expenses that are over $2,000 would be considered as part of the itemized expenses. 

[Opus 17 · Accepted solution]

1. Yes. However, if you also use it for personal use, you have to allocate the work percentage.

2. Correct as to Federal.

3. Yes, however, to actually receive a tax benefit, your miscellaneous itemized deductions need to be more than 2% of your adjusted gross income, so you will want to list as many deductible expenses as you can.

4. In some states it is illegal for employers to charge employees for lost or damaged equipment.  You might want to investigate this further. 

[CobolCJava]

Thanks for the responses. 

I will inquire with HR, but I am sure they should be compliant with policy for having me buy a replacement.   

[Opus 17]

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@CobolCJava wrote:

Thanks for the responses. 

I will inquire with HR, but I am sure they should be compliant with policy for having me buy a replacement.   

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I'm not necessarily advocating that you make waves, just pointing out a possibility.  Also, if the company operates in more than one state, their policy (if they even have one) might be permissible in some states but not in others.  Cheers.