What percentage of work related expenses will I get back from taxes?

Question

I pay for my own gas and travel expenses for work. I also had to buy tools and a GPS. What percentage of that will I get back when I file my taxes?

Answer 1

6 previous answers before me, and 5 of them wrong or had something incorrect. If the gas and travel expenses is just for commuting back and forth to an office that you cannot deduct any of those expenses. If you have to travel to different places for work, then you can deduct travel expenses. What you can take is either actual expenses (your gas, travel expenses, auto insurance, auto repairs, interest on an auto loan, motor vehicle excise tax, the cost of the vehicle itself (through depreciation)) or mileage (48.5 cents per mile for 2007, 44.5 cents per mile for 2006). But whether you take actual or you take mileage you are limited to deducting the business % of your driving. If you take actual and your business driving is 75% of your driving for the year and personal is 25% then you would be able to deduct 75% of actual auto expenses. If you take mileage you would multiply the business miles by the per mile rate (48.5 for 2007, 44.5 for 2006). If you do take mileage the irs does let you deduct the business % of auto loan interest and motor vehicle excise tax. You would report your auto expenses on Form 2106 - Employee Business expenses, along with the GPS. You might be able to also include the tools on the same form depending on what the $$ for the tools was. If it's a large amount you should probably report the tools on Form 4562 - Depreciation and deduct 100% of the cost (using section 179 depreciation). Both the Form 2106 and the Form 4562 would need to be carried over to Itemized Deductions - Schedule A under Miscellaneous Deductions and you would have to exceed 2% of your AGI to be able to deduct the amount above the 2%. And to get any benefit at all from this you have to itemize. If you take the standard deduction you don't get any benefit. As to how the % you get back, it would be whatever your tax rate is. If you are in the 15% bracket then you'd get back 15% of your deductible expenses.

Answer 2

Contact a professional. If you file a Schedule A with your 1040, then you may need to fill out Form 2106 for unreimbursed employee expenses. If you are an independent contractor (you get a 1099, not a W-2 at the end of the year) then you will file Schedule C and include your expenses there. You might want to look at these forms to get an idea, or contact a professional. People tend to try to take shortcuts and avoid paying a professional and it usually costs them more money is many lost deductions...

Answer 3

There are a lot of variables to give you and exact answer.

How much to do make all together?

Assuming that you are a W2 employee, unreimbursed employee expenses are an intemized deduction subject to 2% of your AGI. In other words, add up all that you spent and subtract 2% of your income. The tax benefit would depend on your tax bracket. If you are in the 25% bracket, you would get $0.25 back on the dollar, if you itemize. If you do not itemize, you get no benefit.

Answer 4

it all depends what tax bracket you are in, a $1000 expense, if you in in 21% tax bracket, is about $210 roughly not taking in consideration some other factors, but in principal that would the amount. This is only for people that have work expenses that the employer does not pay.

For mielege is about .34 or .485 cents a mile, i don't remember, that that would the maximum amount of money you can for mileage

Answer 5

Depends on your tax bracket, and if you are already itemizing. You have to itemize to deduct non-reimbursed employee business expenses, and can only deduct the amount that exceeds 2% of your adjusted gross. The deduction is worth at most the amount times your tax bracket percent.

Commuting miles (home to work and back) are not deductible, but if you drive your personal car during your workday as part of your job, then those miles would be deductible.

Answer 6

Except for entertainment and meals (which are 50%) you will get 100% of the work related expenses deducted. So if you would otherwise pay 15% in taxes, 15% will come back.

Answer 7

I cannot tell you a per cent, but if you are a contract laborer you can get back mileage if you are filling out the reports, also, save gas receipts, but you can't take both mileage and gas, The receipts are to prove you drove that many miles. Also, tools are charged off, phone bills and if you work out of your home, you can charge off a portion of your rent and utilities. Also, your phone bill and postage can be charged off. Check with a knowledgable tax person to get your taxes done. They can save you a fortune. Mileage right now is 48.5 cents per mile, making it more worthwhile than charging off gas.

Answer 8

It depends on your tax bracket. Since you'll deduct the expenses from your taxable income, in effect the amount you will "get back" will equal the expense times your effective tax rate -- most likely about 20 percent.

Answer 9

you get it all back if you can prove it.