The Employee Business Expense List

A commonly missed deduction is the not reimbursed employee business expense. Anything that is required by your job that you have to pay for and don't get reimbursed for is tax deductible. There are more things in this category than you might think that could be deductible. The most common are transportation, travel, and meals and entertainment. But there are many more. Here is a list of 7 employee business expenses you are probably missing on your taxes.

Vehicle Expense. If you have to use you own vehicle for anything other than going to and from work, you can deduct the mileage. Some examples of this are running errands for your boss, going to job sites and driving to seminars. Also, if you have two jobs and you drive from one job to the other, those miles are tax deductible.

Travel Expense. Some jobs require the employee to travel out of town. Most employers reimburse travel expense but if not you can deduct travel such as airfare, hotels. Taxi fare, meals, and a passport. Meals and Entertainment. If it is ordinary for your type of business to take clients to lunch or dinner, play golf, or provide them with entertainment, then it is deductible. This is a touchy deduction because it can be misused and the IRS looks closely at it in an audit. But there are a lot of businesses where meals and entertainment is a common even a necessary expense.

Safety Equipment. Tools and supplies that you pay for are deductible.

Uniforms. Clothing required by your employer that is not suitable for ordinary wear. If the uniform has a logo on it or is special clothing such as scrubs in a medical office it is deductible. But it you could wear it to the store or to a movie or somewhere like that it is not deductible. To give you an example, I had a client who had a job selling nail polish. She did demonstrations to large groups of business owners. She was required to wear black clothing. She got audited and even thought she didn't like black and didn't wear the clothing anywhere else, the IRS disallowed the deduction because it was normal clothing that she could have worn anywhere.

Protective Clothing. This is different than uniforms. It includes hard hats, safety glasses, gloves, coveralls, safety shoes, etc. Any clothing that protects you from harm other than your normal clothing is considered protective clothing.