[Jasper]

any suggestions on income tax deductions for people employed as police officers ? ie: how much can you deduct for purchasing clothing ?, uniform dry cleaning ?, etc...

 

[LenS]

Read the info in the booklet for Form 2106 - employee business expenses.

For example:
- clothing that can't be worn as "street clothing" (uniforms) can be deducted IF you pay for them yourself. But if you are plainclothes, you'd be out of luck.
- equipment you buy for the job out of your own pocket can be deducted.
- personal vehicle mileage (if not reimbursed) to training sessions.
- additional training that you take and pay for yourself.
- etc.

It's all outlined in the little booklet that you can download off of IRS' website.

BTW, MA essentially doesn't allow any deductions such as above. The booklet for Form 1 will tell you what MA does allow.

 

[Curious EMT]

Your Hobby is tax deductible. What is your Hobby?

I was able to claim just under 11,500$ for one of mine, and i have erery recipt.

I did my taxes through completetax.com, as i have for the last 3 years. I was "startled" by that question, so after a few phone calls, got in touch with my buddy's wife who works for H&R and she confirmed it. Check with your CPA!

 

[anesthes]

Your Hobby is tax deductible. What is your Hobby?

I was able to claim just under 11,500$ for one of mine, and i have erery recipt.

I did my taxes through completetax.com, as i have for the last 3 years. I was "startled" by that question, so after a few phone calls, got in touch with my buddy's wife who works for H&R and she confirmed it. Check with your CPA!

I know absolutely nothing about tax law. Whats the requirements for something to be a "hobby" ?

I just spent 6,000 on a new motor for my IHRA drag car. Does that mean I can claim it?

 

[sgtmvm]

FWIW in 03 I saved every last receipt, down to dry cleaning and uniform boot polish, and when the time came to submit it to my CPA, she said almost all of it was fruitless...I am a MA resident if that matters...

 

[anesthes]

FWIW in 03 I saved every last receipt, down to dry cleaning and uniform boot polish, and when the time came to submit it to my CPA, she said almost all of it was fruitless...I am a MA resident if that matters...

A few years ago I was in a similar situation, but it was because I was single, and the standard deduction was greater than what I spent on uniforms/gear/etc.

 

[Clouseau]

I have been claiming these for years,

All police clothing, foot wear, equipment,
periodicals, study guides+promotional books,
college education+ law related classes,
guns, ammo, gun club memberships,
cell phone, beeper, mileage to and from court+ details,
meals while in court, on detail, dry cleaning etc.

 

[37-99]

http://money.cnn.com/2004/01/29/pf/taxes/deduction_myths/index.htm

The meal deduction is a myth. It started w/ 2 state troopers in the midwest who had to eat at a certain location at a certain time. They fought for the deduction and won. If you look hard enough you can find the story on the internet.

But for the rest of us it's not a deduction. If your accountant says it is let me know the tax code so I can use it too. I'll be shocked if I get a reply. :shock:

 

[anesthes]

http://money.cnn.com/2004/01/29/pf/taxes/deduction_myths/index.htm

The meal deduction is a myth. It started w/ 2 state troopers in the midwest who had to eat at a certain location at a certain time. They fought for the deduction and won. If you look hard enough you can find the story on the internet.

But for the rest of us it's not a deduction. If your accountant says it is let me know the tax code so I can use it too. I'll be shocked if I get a reply. :shock:

I think some folks are confusing the meal deduction with the cafeteria plan.

http://www.irs.gov/govt/fslg/article/0,,id=112720,00.html

-- Joe

 

[Jasper]

Clouseau, you mentioned what i'm looking for. No one wants to cheat the government, but we all pay for things that are job related that many of us over the years have not claimed. I'm looking for legitimate tax deductions we should take to help support our families. I'm trying to find out ball park figures for deductions that we all have : example - how much does your tax preparer say is ok to deduct as a job related expense for dry cleaning of uniforms, periodicals, travel, etc. - we are entitled to these deductions because we spend money on these job related expenses. Again, we are NOT trying to short change the government out of taxes that we should pay, but simply making sure that we are not short changing ourselves and over paying taxes to the government by not being aware of what we are entitled to. I, and I suspect many others, do not keep track of job related expenditures. I'm simply trying to see what my peers deduct legitimately on their tax preparer's advice. The IRS has formulas on what they THINK our tax deductible expenditures are - I suspect we spend FAR more on our uniforms, supplies, travel, etc than they realize. What does your CPA say ?

 

[Clouseau]

Jasper, will PM.

 

[LenS]

Jasper,

There are NO magic numbers that you can use. IRS has guidelines, but they are guarded as secretly as the codes for nuclear war!

The trick is that you MUST have receipts and mileage logs to deduct ANY OF IT, and that will determine what you can deduct, not what someone else does.

I'm deadly serious here. If you ever get audited, it will make your "Interrogation and Interviewing Techniques" class look like child's play.

I've been audited by IRS three times, three years apart each time and all were for business expenses. I keep detailed receipts, create a spreadsheet and use that do to my taxes. The audits were mighty uncomfortable, but I knew that I could defend every number I put on my return. Net result was two total wins (no additional taxes owed) and one mostly win (due to Wife's job peculiarities we owed $80 that included additional taxes and 3 years' interest). I did it all myself, the returns and the audits and even went two levels of appeal on the first one (they tried to deny my MBA expenses and my company wouldn't provide any letters or anything that would prove it was business related).

While I was being audited at the JFK Building, I could hear a number of other audits in progress (it was done in small cubicles with 5' "Westinghouse partitions" and no privacy). A few others who didn't keep records either were pleading with their auditor, telling the auditor to "accept whatever the auditor thought was reasonable" . . . this was like fresh blood in shark infested waters. I do NOT recommend this approach to doing your taxes. You will also find that CPAs are notoriously conservative and thus will deny you many deductions which are fully defensible, even if a few are in the "gray areas" that are poorly defined.

 

[Jasper]

Len, thank you. I'm not attempting to cheat on taxes, I'm just looking for legitimate deductions that I may be overlooking. These IRS agents must all be Democrats.... tax loving liberals without a family to support.

 

[LenS]

Jasper,

I know you aren't trying to cheat. I was just warning you when you stated that you don't keep all the receipts. IRS loves to audit business expenses and thus you really need all the receipts to defend yourself. Once they see a "hole in your armor" they go for blood!

IRS publishes a free booklet that gives examples. This is most useful in helping answer your questions. Briefly this is what I recall (and the last time I wore a uniform was 1996, so some things may have changed):
- "non-street clothes" - uniforms, cleaning them, repairs, etc.
- mileage to anything related EXCEPT commuting to/from work.
- training/seminar expenses and travel for training/seminars.
- guns, ammo, holsters, supplies, equipment, club and professional organization memberships if related to the job or help you keep your skills up.
- publications related to the job.

That's just a brief "off the top of the head" short list of types of items.