On Apr 23, 6:29 pm, Mark Bole <ma...[at]pacbell.net> wrote:
- quote -

All uniforms have a potential for street wear. You might not want to
wear them for everyday use (say blue overalls), but you can. Now a
suit and tie, that's probably not deductible.

- quote -

Books and safarionline would not be listed property.

Agree with the rest of what you wrote.

Additionally, the 2% of AGI rule includes unreimbursed employee
expenses as well as fees you pay people to manage your money, tax
preparation fees, etc. Even so, all of these are rarely above 2% of
your AGI. Furthermore, the deduction is not allowed under AMT.

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Dick Adams wrote:
- quote -

That's true for uniforms -- if they have any potential for street wear
outside of work, they're not deductible.

If property can easily be used for non-work (personal) purposes, it
might be "listed" property (on an IRS list), but it is still potentially
deductible subject to some additional rules. Examples of listed
property are passenger vehicles, computers, cameras, etc.

- quote -

But doesn't he have to account for the correct percent of business use
of the tools? Sounds like less than 100% business use if he also uses
the tools for personal purposes (his own and his friends and neighbors'
cars, etc). Since a complete set of auto mechanic tools would normally
be depreciated, the business percent would apply to the depreciable
basis of the tools for purposes of unreimbursed employee expenses on
Form 2106.

Books, especially technical ones which are frequently revised, are
normally "consumed" (expensed) in the initial tax year, so I guess
residual use for personal purposes would not be an problem. On the
other hand, if the on-going subscription cost of the Safari service is
part business, part personal, then the unreimbursed employee expense
amount should be pro-rated accordingly. The best thing is to keep daily
logs of the business-use hours of the service against total hours.

All the expenses should be ordinary and necessary expenses attributable
to your job, to be potentially deductible on Form 2106 or directly on
Schedule A.

-Mark Bole

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"Dick Adams" <rdadams[at]panix.com> wrote in message
news:gsp5up$fgt$2[at]reader1.panix.com...
- quote -

2.5% of AGI? A typo, or did I miss a recent tax change?


========================================= MODERATOR'S COMMENT:
Typo: Should be 2.0%

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Dick Adams wrote:
- quote -

2% per http://www.irs.gov/publications/p529/ar02.html
But then, of course, OP needs to itemize for that to kick in. If he
doesn't itemize, the question is moot.
Joe
www.joetaxpayer.com << FYI - I dropped the 'blog' subdomain.

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James Egan <jegan472[at]comcast.net> wrote:

- quote -

Your expenses are Unreimbursed Employee Business Expenses which
are deductible after they exceed 2.5% of your AGI. It is always
best for your employer to pay these expenses.

A mechanic who buys tools of his trade and then repairs his own
car does not harm the tax status of his tools. Do it is unlikely
that you will harm yours.

Dick

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I'm a Software Engineer, and use computer related books at work. I also
have a Safari account at www.safaribooksonline.com which is on online
digital library, which I use at work. Are the books and or Safari account
tax deductible?

Someone told me that if they can be used for non-work purposes, then they
are not deductible.


-Thanks

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<< ------------------------------------------------------- > << The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, > << nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties > << that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts > << to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy > << are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2007) - All rights reserved. > << ------------------------------------------------------- >