Electrician apprenticeship expense

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My son is in a Minnesota electrician apprenticeship and bought a lot of tools and paid for some electrical apprentice training himself. Can he do anything with these expenses on his taxes?

xmasbaby0Answer

Level 15

Expert Reviewed

Is he getting a W-2 for his earnings? If so, the answer is no, he cannot deduct anything for the tools on his federal return.

-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.

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

**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.**

guywong

Level 6

Unfortunately, the short answer is "No". Employee business expenses are no longer tax deductible for federal income tax purposes and education expenses toward a new line of work is not deductible either. If he later becomes self-employed, he may be able to depreciate the value of his tools but that's down the road.

What you may want to go to this link below and see if his training expenses qualify him for any of the education tax credit.

https://www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/individuals/education-credits-aotc-llc