Can I claim deductions for items like a stethoscope and blood pressure cuff if I got a 1099-MISC from a hospital that I work for periodically as an on call physician?

[gkonopas]

Wondering if items can be claimed under Job Expenses? What section would I claim them under "Education expenses" or "Professional publications"? Also, can I claim journals I purchase for CMEs, organizations I have memberships to like APA?

[Opus 17]

First question is, are you also a W-2 employee at another facility, and are these expenses exclusive to the 1099 side job or are these expensive shared between both jobs?

[Bsch4477]

If you have income in box 7 of your 1099-misc you are considered self employed and will complete Sch C. On that schedule you will report income and expenses. Expenses include professional magazines and equipment as well as continuing medical education and professional dues. The downside is that you will have to pay self employment tax on that income. 

[gkonopas]

The expenses are shared between my regular job and on call position at another hospital. For example cell phone is used b/c no longer have pagers but I'm not sure if I can claim cell phone bill or a portion of it.  Same for physician's license and DEA license.  Used for both regular job and on call position.

[gkonopas]

I receive a W-2 from one hospital I am employed at and got a 1099-MISC from a different hospital I work at on call periodically. 

[Bsch4477]

One way to allocate the expenses is to deduct a percentage based on the relative incomes of the two jobs. So if your income from W-2 is twice that of the 1099-misc job, your common expenses for 1099-misc would be half of that for the W-2.  The expense of your cell phone would be divided the same way after you subtract what you consider personal usage. 

[Opus 17]

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@gkonopas wrote:

I receive a W-2 from one hospital I am employed at and got a 1099-MISC from a different hospital I work at on call periodically. 

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Expenses are deductible as work related expenses if they are “ordinary and necessary“ for the particular job. That would certainly include medical equipment like a stethoscope and it would include journal subscriptions and society memberships in your case. However, the itemized deduction for employee W-2 work expenses was eliminated by income tax reform in 2018. You can deduct your expenses on schedule C for your self-employment but if the expenses are shared, you must allocate them between your two jobs, usually on the basis of income, so you could only deduct on your schedule C a portion of your job related expenses as a physician.

If you work at both locations on the same day, you could fully deduct travel to the independent contractor job using standard mileage rate, if you keep track of your mileage.  You can also fully deduct any expenses that are exclusively to the independent contractor job. This might include parking, and it could include any materials that you are required to furnish yourself that are only used at that job.

[Opus 17]

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@gkonopas wrote:

The expenses are shared between my regular job and on call position at another hospital. For example cell phone is used b/c no longer have pagers but I'm not sure if I can claim cell phone bill or a portion of it.  Same for physician's license and DEA license.  Used for both regular job and on call position.

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Cell phones are separately tricky if it is also your personal phone, because you can only deduct the part of the expenses that is related to the W-2 job, and you must have some reasonable method of determining that use and allocating expenses, not only between the two jobs, but also between personal and work use.  If it's a work-only phone, you can allocate between your jobs by your income.