John Smith wrote:

<<SNIP>
- quote -

Did your employer require you to make those purchases? If
not, you don't have a deduction.

- quote -

You have no argument unless your employer requires you to
have a home office.

- quote -

You have no argument for such a deduction.

Good luck.

<< ================================================== ===== > << The foregoing is intended for educational purposes only > << and does NOT constitute legal OR professional advice. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting > << messages to this newsgroup are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2006) - All rights reserved. > << ================================================== ===== >

I work for a large university as a strategic director. When
I began working in 2004 was part-time. I was given a small
space as my work area, given a phone and a notebook, but a
small 5 foot cubicle was clearly insufficent for the work I
was doing. I need several printers and a large work area to
develop desktop presentations. The notebook I was issued
lacked the large screen I needed to develop major
presentations, lacked the power to run mulitple industrial
stength applications and was insufficent for my needs. In
additon the university used notebooks that ran Office 2000
and Windows 2000 and my entire skillset was built on Office
2003 and Windows XP. Using the older applications were
extremely inefficient. With the perimission of my boss, who
is the Director of the program, I elected to work out of my
home for almost 90% of the week. That is my base, my email
address in the university directory is my home email address
rather than an .edu address and everyone knows I work out of
my home. I have meetings at the university several times a
week. My cubicle has never been used. I have never even
picked up the phone there. The computer is used almost
exclusively for work though like any normal person, I use it
for personal matters at night. I never use the notebook.

I consider my self a telecommuter defacto. I work at home 90% of each week.

The questions are:

1. May I deduct the purchase of computer upgrades such as a
monitor or hard disk drive or computer software as
unreimbursed employee expenses? I build my own PCs and buy
each part separately.

2. Do I have any argument on deducting part of my house as a
home office or am I precluded by the existence of the
cubicle I was issued? Is the argument weak or strong?

3. Do I have any argument for deducting costs of going back
and forth between home and work? Is the argument weak or
strong?


<< ================================================== ===== > << The foregoing is intended for educational purposes only > << and does NOT constitute legal OR professional advice. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting > << messages to this newsgroup are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2006) - All rights reserved. > << ================================================== ===== >