Claiming Duty Gear on Taxes

[BadBoynMD]

I was just imagining the conversation with the IRS auditor:

IRS: I see a deduction here for clippers. Did you clip three whiskers five times, or did you clip five whiskers three times? There's a difference in the deduction, you know. You take the square root of hairs clipped divided by the length of the hairs times the tenth power of the number of hairs clipped and multiply that times $0.000013...

Me: Yeah, yeah - whatever. I clipped three whiskers five times, and one nose hair. I also had this real long hair growing out of my ear...

IRS: Oh, I'm very sorry. There's nothing in your company policy regarding hairs within the nasal cavity, so that's not covered - just mustaches. By using the clippers for internal nose hairs, you've disqualified yourself from taking the deduction.

Me: Yeah, but....

IRS: ...And speaking of butts, I see you've claimed a deduction for toilet paper. Let's take a crack at that one next, no pun intended <insert dry auditor's chuckle here>.

LMAO!!!!!!!!!

[SecTrainer]

I agree..that's a bit much. lol

I was just imagining the conversation with the IRS auditor:

IRS: Okay, Mr. Tax-Cheater-Think-You're-Tricky-But-You're-Not, I see a deduction here for clippers. Did you clip three whiskers five times, or did you clip five whiskers three times? There's a difference in the deduction, you know. You take the square root of hairs clipped divided by the length of the hairs times the tenth power of the number of hairs clipped and multiply that times $0.000013...

Me: Yeah, yeah - whatever. I clipped three whiskers five times, and one nose hair. I also had this real long hair growing out of my ear...

IRS: Oh, I'm very sorry. There's nothing in your company policy requiring you to control the hairs within your nasal cavity, so that's not a business expense - just mustaches. By using the clippers for internal nose hairs, you've disqualified yourself from taking the deduction. KA-CHING!

Me: Yeah, but....

IRS: ...And speaking of butts, I see you've claimed a deduction for toilet paper. Let's take a crack at that one next, if you'll pardon the pun....<insert auditor's dry snicker here>...KA-CHING! Now, let's see, disallowances plus penalties plus interest.....KA-CHING! KA-CHING! KA-CHING!

[BadBoynMD]

Boy, I have trouble with this one. Seems like you're just asking to be audited, and no one "wins" an audit.

I agree..that's a bit much. lol

[SecTrainer]

How about this one. I receive a monthly car allowance since I use my personal vehicle for travel. Because I receive this allowance, my mileage is calculated at $.25, as opposed to the standard IRS $.41 per mile.

I was told by a co-worker to save my expense reports and when doing taxes, I can claim the difference. Sounds like double dipping to me. Any thoughts?

Actually, this is good advice...you CAN claim the "nonreimbursed" portion of the standard allowance, which, by the way, is 44.5 cents per mile for 2006, not 41.5 cents. Miles add up fast when you use your car in business, so this may very well represent a significant deduction.

What your company is doing isn't too dumb either, although I'm not sure about the ethics of it. In effect, by reimbursing you at a rate well below the standard deduction (and you can bet they know what that is), they're letting the government (or you, if you don't claim the difference) pay part of what is really properly *their own* business expense.

You can go to this link for some plain-English discussion about a number of deductions (scroll down to the discussion on mileage).

[acrand]

How about this one. I receive a monthly car allowance since I use my personal vehicle for travel. Because I receive this allowance, my mileage is calculated at $.25, as opposed to the standard IRS $.41 per mile.

I was told by a co-worker to save my expense reports and when doing taxes, I can claim the difference. Sounds like double dipping to me. Any thoughts?

[SecTrainer]

In addition: Haircuts, shaving cream, razors. A little far fetched I know, however, the accountant I use told me that if it is written in company policy such as "Beards not authorized" or "hair must be tapered", you can write it off. Just keep a copy of the policy in case of an audit. I have yet to take him seriously, but he swears up and down and asks me for the receipts every year. Maybe next year I will take him up on it.

Boy, I have trouble with this one. Seems like you're just asking to be audited, and no one "wins" an audit.

[N. A. Corbier]

The thing is, you get a 3-5 thousand dollar automatic deduction. Unless you're spending more than you automatic deduction, itemized deductions are useless.

If you have 3.5k in itemized exemptions, and the standard deduction on federal income taxes is 5k and you submit your exemptions, you are saying to the IRS: Please waive the standard deduction and let me pay more.

[acrand]

In addition: Haircuts, shaving cream, razors. A little far fetched I know, however, the accountant I use told me that if it is written in company policy such as "Beards not authorized" or "hair must be tapered", you can write it off. Just keep a copy of the policy in case of an audit. I have yet to take him seriously, but he swears up and down and asks me for the receipts every year. Maybe next year I will take him up on it.

[BadBoynMD]

Absolutely. As long as you are not reimbursed by your employer, you can write off anything and everything you purchase for work purposes (duty gear, boots, socks, under armour shirts, pens, notepads, even dry cleaning).

We have another member of SIW, Copelandamuffy, who is quite knowledgable in regards to this subject, and i'm sure he will have no problem offering some tax advice.

Adding in cell phone bills and car washes. If it's something for business it's a write-off. Just have to make sure you keep ALL reciepts in case you get audited. I have a CPA in the family, so it's a nice luxury. I write off everything, even my laptop and PC.

[davis002]

Absolutely. As long as you are not reimbursed by your employer, you can write off anything and everything you purchase for work purposes (duty gear, boots, socks, under armour shirts, pens, notepads, even dry cleaning).

We have another member of SIW, Copelandamuffy, who is quite knowledgable in regards to this subject, and i'm sure he will have no problem offering some tax advice.

[BUCKSHOT]

Does anyone know if you can claim your duty gear purchased, on your yearly taxes?