Working location change now from home

[ajolley42]

• Thanks for offering this service.  My company in March of 2020 sent employees away to work from home.  Some employees have been called back.  My team has not.  The company has never officially said my team is now a work from home team even though I have not worked a day in the office since March of 2020.  Am I able to get tax relief since I will have been working from home all of 2021?   If so what can I claim?

[xmasbaby0]

No----W-2 employees cannot get any federal deduction for job-related expenses, although some state tax laws may vary.  The tax laws that changed for 2018 and beyond eliminated job-related expenses as a federal deduction.

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

[Critter-3]

Your benefits for working at home will not show on the tax return but it  is the money you saved on things like gas, car insurance(you should have called the insurance to let them know your mileage was reduced significantly), wear and tear on the car, eating out costs,   not to mention the clothing/laundry costs (since you didn't have to wash them or yourself 😉  as often ).  Yes you may have incurred an increase in the  electric bill and water bill for the extra flushing of the toilet but you still came out way ahead.  

[Opus 17]

Your company is free to reimburse you for part or all of your costs.  If they do it via a "non-accountable plan", then the reimbursement is part of your taxable income.  If they use an "accountable plan" where you prove your work-related expenses with receipts and other proof, then the reimbursement is not taxable income.  

They are not required to reimburse you under federal law.  Whether they might owe you something under state law would depend on your state laws, employment contract, and so on.   (For example, in New York, if an employee's expenses would bring their net income below the minimum wage, the employer must reimburse the expenses or give the employee a raise.)

There are no tax breaks for regular employees working at home.