{"id":20670,"date":"2018-02-22T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-02-22T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/"},"modified":"2022-03-18T12:35:38","modified_gmt":"2022-03-18T17:35:38","slug":"unreimbursed-employee-expenses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/filing\/adjustments-and-deductions\/unreimbursed-employee-expenses\/","title":{"rendered":"“Can I Deduct Unreimbursed Employee Expenses?”"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Tax Cut and Jobs Act<\/a>\u00a0made sweeping changes to the U.S. tax system. One of the biggest changes was removing the deduction for unreimbursed employee business expenses.<\/p>\n

The unreimbursed business expenses exemption began with 2018 tax returns. This means employees can no longer offset their taxable income with employee business expenses.<\/p>\n

What Were The Previous Rules About Unreimbursed Employee Business Expenses?<\/h2>\n

Prior to 2018, an employee could deduct unreimbursed job expenses to the extent these expenses, along with certain other miscellaneous expenses, were more than 2% of their Adjusted Gross Income (AGI)<\/a>. The employee would need to be eligible to itemize to deduct these expenses.<\/p>\n

However, with tax reform, all miscellaneous \u201c2%\u201d expenses, including\u00a0unreimbursed employee expenses<\/a>\u00a0are not allowed between 2018 and 2025. Expenses such as union dues, work-related business travel, or professional organization dues are no longer deductible, even if the employee can itemize deductions.<\/p>\n

Self-employed taxpayers may continue to deduct ordinary and necessary business expenses against self-employment income on Schedule C or Schedule F.<\/p>\n

Exception to Unreimbursed Business Expenses<\/h2>\n

\"Unreimbursed<\/p>\n

The unreimbursed business expense change doesn\u2019t have an effect on the unreimbursed business expenses that non-wage-earning self-employed individuals (individual filing Schedule C<\/a> or Schedule F) are allowed to claim to offset their income subject to the self-employment tax<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Previous Business Expense Deductions Rule<\/h2>\n

Prior to 2018, employees were allowed to claim deductions for their\u00a0unreimbursed business expenses\u00a0as itemized deductions on their tax return. This allowed employees to reduce their tax liability on account of having several common business tax deductions, including the following:<\/p>\n