Tax Question

[ZealouslyStriving]

If someone's cheap boss makes them buy their own PPE- can said employee claims the expenses on their taxes?

Asking for a friend... 😏😉

[longview]

if a person is wearing his own personal protection equipment then he is more likely to take better care of them or not damage them or misplace them or get them grungy. You might check schedule B itemization?

[Calm]

Apparently so….(I have no clue, last time I did taxes myself I was in Canada).  I would check the government site though.

https://corvee.com/blog/is-ppe-tax-deductible/

Edited October 24, 2024 by Calm

[rpn]

In the US the answer is yes, but because the standard deduction is 14K or so, not very many people benefit from deductibility.

[longview]

1 hour ago, rpn said:

In the US the answer is yes, but because the standard deduction is 14K or so, not very many people benefit from deductibility.

The beneficent IRS is sneaky. It gives with the right hand but steals it back with the left hand. All it has to do is to ratchet the brackets higher and higher so it is a wash. When you consider all the taxes on every level: sales tax, fees for auto and other licensing, property tax (our homes are truly NOT our castle), income tax, and even the dreaded death tax! Accumulatively it adds up to well over 50% for many people. We are drones of the state.

[Rain]

23 hours ago, ZealouslyStriving said:

If someone's cheap boss makes them buy their own PPE- can said employee claims the expenses on their taxes?

Asking for a friend... 😏😉

I know you used to be able to deduct required (I don't know what your job is so I wouldn't know if PPE was required or not) expenses for US federal taxes.  I'm not sure you still can. Whatever you find, verify it with actual tax instructions first.  

Your state taxes may have different rules so even if you can or can't with federal, check with your state.  I know, with my state, there have been things that were different.

Edited October 25, 2024 by Rain

[MustardSeed]

Interesting.  I think I’m able to deduct the clothing I wear on stage when I perform, as long as I don’t wear it anywhere else, for my music business. 

[Calm]

5 hours ago, longview said:

our homes are truly NOT our castle

And thank goodness they aren’t or we would have to be digging wells for water, making our own roads, defending our own homes, etc. 

[Rain]

6 hours ago, MustardSeed said:

Interesting.  I think I’m able to deduct the clothing I wear on stage when I perform, as long as I don’t wear it anywhere else, for my music business. 

On the link that I listed above "However, reservists, performing artists, fee-basis government, disabled workers with impairment-related work expenses, and educators can still deduct certain job-related expenses that aren’t reimbursed" so it looks like you are still good.

[The Nehor]

14 hours ago, longview said:

The beneficent IRS is sneaky. It gives with the right hand but steals it back with the left hand. All it has to do is to ratchet the brackets higher and higher so it is a wash. When you consider all the taxes on every level: sales tax, fees for auto and other licensing, property tax (our homes are truly NOT our castle), income tax, and even the dreaded death tax! Accumulatively it adds up to well over 50% for many people. We are drones of the state.

Are you under the impression that the IRS selects taxation levels? Congress does that.

Currently the highest tax bracket is 37% and that is only for income that fits into that bracket. This is historically very low. Post-World War 2 (back in the ‘good old days’) the highest tax bracket paid over 80%.

The dreaded death tax that virtually no one pays? Your estate has to be worth over 13 million dollars before you have to pay any federal inheritance taxes.

You are living in a paranoid delusion with propagandists telling you to be mad. Question why they are trying to do this.

[longview]

12 hours ago, The Nehor said:

Are you under the impression that the IRS selects taxation levels? Congress does that.

You are correct. IRS is authorized to adjust the brackets each year to reflect the CPI (now C-CPI). I am just using the IRS as the "bad cop" where they too often play that role, sometimes with shocking excess.

Have you noticed how many federal agencies have their own SWAT teams? Even the Dept. of Education has a SWAT team for crying out loud!     (see here)

12 hours ago, The Nehor said:

Currently the highest tax bracket is 37% and that is only for income that fits into that bracket. This is historically very low. Post-World War 2 (back in the ‘good old days’) the highest tax bracket paid over 80%.

I am familiar with this.

12 hours ago, The Nehor said:

The dreaded death tax that virtually no one pays? Your estate has to be worth over 13 million dollars before you have to pay any federal inheritance taxes.

I think it was in the 1980's where family farms were forced into liquidation (and auctioning) upon the death of parents. Due to unrelenting inheritance "death" taxes, the children could not raise enough funding to preserve their operations. I remember seeing quite a few of those reports back in the day. I think there should have been provisions to encourage the perpetuation of small farms.

Also, I think it "brutish" for the government to kick retirees out into the streets for not keeping up (or forgetting) the annual property tax dues. It ought to be the "duty" of government to make vigorous efforts to follow up and to make at least one visit ("wellness check"). Social workers and/or credit counselors should help the retirees with setting up a budget for a sustainable living arrangements with quarterly tax payments done automatically with direct deposits. At worse, a reasonable penalty could be levied.

If retirees are living on fixed incomes but the government can blithely print money out of thin air for trillions of dollars of insane "programs" (causing massive inflation) then retirees should be "off the hook" for paying property taxes! Since they usually have serious medical expenses, the threshold should be raised much higher so they can use visiting care givers or whatever services are needed.

12 hours ago, The Nehor said:

You are living in a paranoid delusion with propagandists telling you to be mad. Question why they are trying to do this.

There you go again, defaulting to smearing. I consider myself to be well read in numerous publications. My starting point is CompleteColorado.com which has hundreds of links to newspapers and periodicals throughout the state. It is maintained by the Independence Institute which is a Libertarian organization. I also read Forbes, Kiplinger, and a wide variety of sources. Be assured I do read extensively of LDS sources.