J.K. Lasser's Your Income Tax Professional Edition 2017

Chapter 19 Deducting Job Costs and Other Miscellaneous Expenses

1. 19.1 2% of AGI Floor Reduces Most Miscellaneous Expenses
2. 19.2 Effect of 2% of AGI Floor on Miscellaneous Deductions
3. 19.3 Checklist of Job Expenses Subject to the 2% of AGI Floor
4. 19.4 Job Expenses Not Subject to the 2% of AGI Floor
5. 19.5 Dues and Subscriptions
6. 19.6 Uniforms and Work Clothes
7. 19.7 Expenses of Looking for a New Job
8. 19.8 Local Transportation Costs
9. 19.9 Unusual Job Expenses
10. 19.10 Computer Bought for Job
11. 19.11 Cell Phones, Calculators, Copiers and Fax Machines
12. 19.12 Small Tools
13. 19.13 Employee Home Office Deductions
14. 19.14 Telephone Costs
15. 19.15 Checklist of Deductible Investment Expenses
16. 19.16 Costs of Tax Return Preparation and Audits
17. 19.17 Deducting Legal Costs
18. 19.18 Contingent Fees Paid Out of Taxable Awards

On Schedule A (Form 1040), you may be able to deduct a portion of miscellaneous expenses covering a wide and varied range of items, such as employee travel and entertainment expenses, work clothes expenses, union and employee professional dues, investment expenses, legal expenses, tax preparation expenses, and educational expenses. They share a significant limitation: the 2% of adjusted gross income (AGI) floor. If your expenses do not exceed this floor, you may not deduct them. If the expenses exceed the floor, only the excess is deductible. Even before applying the 2% of AGI floor, employees who incur unreimbursed meal and entertainment costs must reduce their meal and entertainment costs ...