unreimbursed business expenses

[CJR1]

My  wife works for an employer whose home base is in California. She is a journalist and every day, she visits courthouses to write a report about new litigation. The business does not pay for her car trip from home to the first courthouse, as they consider that her "workplace."  They pay for her trip to the second court courthouse and from that second courthouse back home. The business where my wife works has no bricks-and-mortar bureau in this area.She is paid solely by the business in California. 

Can she claim the first part of the daily trip as an unreimbursed business expense?

[macuser_22 · Accepted solution]

If she is a W-2 employee then no business expenses are deductible.

If she is 1099-MISC self-employed then the trip from home to the first work place is a non-deductible commute.   If she must travel from work to a second location then that would be a schedule C business expense, but the trip from the last place of business back home would again be a non-deductible commute.

[MinhT1]

No, the trip from home to the first workplace is counted as commuting and is not deductible.