parking fees?

Question

i work in the downtown city , and i pay a monthly fee of 125. a month just to be able to park. will i be able to write that off of my taxes this year, i itemize my deductions. any suggestions? thanks

Answer 1

The cost of commuting from you home to your job is not a tax deductible item.

The only way that any commuting cost is deductible is in a situation where you have two jobs. The cost of commuting from the first job to the second would be a deductible item. This used to be the case but with regs constantly changing you'd have to get an update, but this does not apply to you anyway.

The following is from the help screen of the tax program "TaxCut":

Commuting Expenses
You cannot deduct commuting expenses (the cost of transportation between your home and your main or regular place of work). If you haul tools, instruments, or other items, in your car to and from work, you can deduct only the additional cost of hauling the items such as the rent on a trailer to carry the items.

Answer 2

Commuter expenses (up to I believe $120 per month) can be pre-tax. For example, I pay $105/ mo parking & my employer handles it as a pre tax deduction. My employer also has arranged for people who take public transportation to work use www.wageworks.com to make those expenses pre tax (see: http://www.wageworks.com/employee/commuter/default.htm )

So, typically communiting expenses are not deductible, but they can be pre-tax if it's arranged thru your employer. The rationale behind this is that if an employer provides free parking for employees it's is considered a non taxable fringe.

Answer 3

Agree, you typically cannot deduct parking to & from work on your tax return. However, you should speak to your HR, Payroll, and Comptroller to see if it can be arranged to be submitted and be handled on a pre-tax basis. Wageworks.com is commonly used by employers to assist their employees with this. For more info see:

http://www.irs.gov/publications/p15b/ar02.html#d0e927

Answer 4

Parking is not deductable unless you must travel for your job. Commuting does not count. Your employer can provide parking or reimburesment for parking as part of their benifits package on t pre tax basis.

Answer 5

education to advance in a job or keep that job are tax deductable. but car maintance, gas and parking are part of life. If you can you can try to get a new job tha pays alittle more but has free parking.

Answer 6

Nope. You can't deduct parking just to go to work.

Answer 7

That depends , but how about riding the Metrolink? That would save on a lot of gas and parking etc