well i bought around $1400 worth of tools this year and was told i could itemize or what ever its called on my taxes to get a return on them since i use them for my job.
has anyone done this and was it hard or easy?
If you already do itemized deductions, then no problem. Easy. Just ask your tool guy for a statement from last year to keep.
If you do standard deduction, then it’s moot.
Depends on if your an employee or independent contractor.
Schedule C if your independent…this is essentially an important and beneficial form where you make a profit & loss statement for your business (that is, you business of being a mechanic…getting to expense the amounts you spent to make the income your reporting).
If your an employee, you should use Line 20 of Schedule A. However, expenses here are subject to the 2% floor…that is they must exceed 2% of your adjusted gross income, which is shown on line 38 of the Form 1040.
As Bracketracer said, just ask your tool man for a 2010 tax statement for your purchases. At $1400, it may not be enough to be worth it…
Yes you can deduct them, they are included in the misc. deductions but these are limited to expenses exceeding 2% of your AGI (adjusted gross income). There are lots of item within misc like union dues paid, protective work clothing/uniforms and so on…
So if your AGI is say 50k, take 2% of that or $1000…you can deduct anything withing that category exceeding that $1000. Have you itemized in the past? If not then you will probably be better off taking the standard deduction…depends on a whole bunch of things, first do you own a home.
I looked into it but after having to amortize the tools since they will be used for more than one year it wasn’t worth it. I had/have A LOT more than 1400 in tools also. (but I didn’t have anything else really to deduct so the standard was still more)