If you were employed
You can deduct job-related expenses as miscellaneous expenses on Schedule A - itemized deductions if they were not reimbursed by your employer. The option to file Schedule A is not included in TurboTax Free Edition. You will have to upgrade to Deluxe.
Please note that in order to deduct these expenses as miscellaneous expenses, you have to itemize your deductions on Schedule A, instead of taking the standard deduction which for 2017 are as follow:
- $6,350 for single
- $9,350 for head of household
- $12,700 for married filing jointly
In addition to itemizing your deductions on schedule A, miscellaneous expenses are subject to a 2% of adjusted gross income (AGI) threshold. This means that all your miscellaneous expenses will be reduced by 2% of AGI, and the leftover is the amount you can claim as a deduction. For example, if your AGI is $10,000, you can only claim a deduction for the amount of your total miscellaneous expenses that exceed $200, or 2% of $10,000. If you have $1,000 in expenses, you'll get a $800 deduction. If your miscellaneous expenses don't add up to 2% of your AGI, they don't qualify for a deduction at all.
If you were self-employed
You can deduct these expenses on Schedule C - profit or loss from business. Keep in mind that you will need TurboTax Deluxe or a higher in order to complete schedule C.
Please read the following TurboTax article for more information on Self- Employment Business Income and Deductions.
