The Zoom website and other sources say an iPad Pro is what will work for what I need.
Now that my work has been moved to online and my meetings and transactions need to take places over Zoom, this is a requirement for me
If you are self-employed, you are allowed to deduct ordinary and necessary expenses for your kind of work. Necessary does not mean "essential", but you wouldn't need a device to make zoom calls if you were an Uber driver.
When you are self-employed, you file a schedule C as part of your tax return that lists your income and expenses. You are required to report all your income and expenses even if you don't get tax paperwork like a 1099. You don't file a 1099 yourself (unless you pay subcontractors) -- your income might be reported to you on a 1099 but you report all your income and expenses to the IRS on a schedule C.
Computers, cell phones and other devices might be ordinary and necessary business expenses for the work you do. List the item as a business asset (equipment with an expected life of more than one year). Depending on the cost, the other things you have bought this year, and what you use it for, you might be able to take the entire cost as an expense, or you have to spread it out over it's useful life in business (3 or 5 years, probably). Turbotax knows the regulations and will treat the property correctly if you identify it correctly. It matters greatly if you use it 100% for work, partly personal use but more than 50% for work, or mostly personal and less than 50% for work.
Expense deductions are never reductions in your tax, they are reductions in your taxable income. For example, if you are paid $10,000 gross but you have $1000 of expenses to generate that income, then you have $9000 of "taxable income" or "net profit" or "taxable profit." And the tax on $9000 is less than the tax on $10,000 so that's how you save.
Also be aware that once the tablet is listed as a business asset, you have to report when you sell or dispose of it, and that might be taxable income. For example, if you sell 3 years from now for $100, that might be taxable business income, even though it would not be taxable income if you sold a used personal device.
If you are a W-2 employee then job-related expenses are not deductible on a federal tax return.
Not if you are a W2 employee. If you are self employed you can expense it on Schedule C.
So a 1099 will do?
Do you know if I will be 100% reimbursed on my tax refund, or if it would be only a small portion of the purchase price?
(Thank you so much)
Business expenses reduce your Net Profit so you have less income to pay tax on. You are paying about 15% self employment tax on your Net Profit (in addition to any regular income tax) so you will at least save 15% of it. I don't know if you can expense 100% of it or you will need to depreciate it over several years like maybe 3 years.
A 1099 has nothing to do with it, having a self-employed business and filing a Schedule C reporting your business income does . Valid business expenses will reduce the amount of taxable business income.
If you are self-employed, you are allowed to deduct ordinary and necessary expenses for your kind of work. Necessary does not mean "essential", but you wouldn't need a device to make zoom calls if you were an Uber driver.
When you are self-employed, you file a schedule C as part of your tax return that lists your income and expenses. You are required to report all your income and expenses even if you don't get tax paperwork like a 1099. You don't file a 1099 yourself (unless you pay subcontractors) -- your income might be reported to you on a 1099 but you report all your income and expenses to the IRS on a schedule C.
Computers, cell phones and other devices might be ordinary and necessary business expenses for the work you do. List the item as a business asset (equipment with an expected life of more than one year). Depending on the cost, the other things you have bought this year, and what you use it for, you might be able to take the entire cost as an expense, or you have to spread it out over it's useful life in business (3 or 5 years, probably). Turbotax knows the regulations and will treat the property correctly if you identify it correctly. It matters greatly if you use it 100% for work, partly personal use but more than 50% for work, or mostly personal and less than 50% for work.
Expense deductions are never reductions in your tax, they are reductions in your taxable income. For example, if you are paid $10,000 gross but you have $1000 of expenses to generate that income, then you have $9000 of "taxable income" or "net profit" or "taxable profit." And the tax on $9000 is less than the tax on $10,000 so that's how you save.
Also be aware that once the tablet is listed as a business asset, you have to report when you sell or dispose of it, and that might be taxable income. For example, if you sell 3 years from now for $100, that might be taxable business income, even though it would not be taxable income if you sold a used personal device.
(and since posting this, I've done better research and found that an iPad is actually a bad idea and I need a Laptop/Desktop/2in1 with Windows or MacOS -not iOS)
Thank you all very much. I can't thank you enough
A laptop/desktop will be listed as a business asset on your Schedule C as well. If you are purchasing it in 2021, it will go on next year's tax return. TurboTax will walk you through the steps of entering all of your business assets when your file your tax return.