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I do 1-2 loads of laundry a week just in work clothes. I want to deduct part of my electric bill and the cost of detergent. How do I do this?

I work at a powder factory and get very dirty.
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3 Replies

I do 1-2 loads of laundry a week just in work clothes. I want to deduct part of my electric bill and the cost of detergent. How do I do this?

Unless you are self-employed, that would be an unreimbursed employee expense which is not deductible (in most instances) as a result of tax reform (the TCJA). 

 

See https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p529.pdf

I do 1-2 loads of laundry a week just in work clothes. I want to deduct part of my electric bill and the cost of detergent. How do I do this?

If you are a W-2 employee you cannot deduct any job-related expenses from your federal tax return, per the tax laws that have been in effect since 2018.  Sorry.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/4482873-which-federal-tax-deductions-have-been-suspended-by-tax-re...

 

**Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to offer the most correct information possible. The poster disclaims any legal responsibility for the accuracy of the information that is contained in this post.**

I do 1-2 loads of laundry a week just in work clothes. I want to deduct part of my electric bill and the cost of detergent. How do I do this?

If you are a W-2 employee, you can't deduct these expenses from your federal tax return.  Some states still allow the deduction, which is why Turbotax allows you to enter them.  They might flow to your state tax return, but whether they actually benefit you depends on all your total deductions.  

 

However, you then have the problem of allocating costs to the work expense.  Work clothes themselves are not deductible unless they are distinctive or unique in some way that makes them unsuitable for everyday wear, and laundry is generally something you do anyway, no matter what kind of job you have.  You might have an argument if you have special clothes that can only be used for that kind of work (like coveralls made of a special material) and the chemicals involved mean you have to wash your uniform separately.  Then you would need some method of allocating your electric and detergent cost that you can write down and keep with your tax records. 

 

If you are wearing ordinary street clothes and washing them with your other clothes, then I don't think you have any legitimate deduction since laundry is a normal living expense and you couldn't prove a work-specific increase from your usual cost of living.

 

If you are working with Hazmat materials, an argument could also be made that your employer should be responsible for washing your clothes at their expense, that's something you might raise with your state labor regulators. 

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