Rental for work

[Emerson1113]

My home state is Texas. My drivers license is Texas. I pay a mortgage on my home in Texas. My husband resides full-time at our house in Texas.

I work full time in California. I pay rent in California. I do not get stipends for any expenses and my pay is fully taxed. I am a nurse. This is my staff job. I am not a travel nurse.

I fly home to Texas once a month for a week or two at a time.

Would I be able to write off any of these expenses (rent in California, flights to Texas/California, etc)??

Or any other expenses I am not thinking about??

This is all new to me this year

[xmasbaby0 · Accepted solution]

W-2 employees cannot deduct job-related expenses on a federal tax return.

Commuting to and from work. (even if it was by plane) is not deductible.    Your rent is not deductible as a job-related expense.

However, since you are working in CA, you will have to file a CA tax return and pay tax to CA for your CA-sourced income.    You  might be able to use your rent on the CA return since CA has a renter credit.  You will not be "double-taxed" in any way since TX has no state income tax.

[TomD8]

As @xmasbaby0 explained, W-2 employees cannot deduct job-related expenses on their federal return.

However, if you itemize then California does permit deduction of unreimbursed employee job-related expenses on your California state tax return (CA Form 540NR), subject to the 2% floor.  You would enter those expenses in TurboTax on the "federal" side.  The program will pass them through to your CA return.

Also, if you are paid as an independent contractor (meaning your income is reported to you on a 1099-NEC rather than a W-2), then your business-related expenses are deductible on Schedule C of your federal return.