Home office deduction for teachers

[Terry D EA]

 I have not found anything on this subject yet. I have a few teachers and others that have been working from home due to the pandemic. If this deduction were available, wouldn't be under form 2106? That form is only available for certain folks to use. I don't see any other way this could be done. Thoughts???

[Lion EA]

No unreimbursed employee expenses during TCJA. Accountable employee reimbursement plan. This is a reason teachers have union reps.

[Terry D EA]

Well I know a lot of teachers in certain states do not have unions. In NC teachers do not. We have the NCAE which is useless and is not a bargaining unit for teachers. You confirmed my thoughts exactly. 

[Lee B]

The only thing available is the $250 Educators subtraction.

[TaxCPANY]

But don't neglect those states that "decoupled" from TCJA such as New York, where a state-only 2106 can bolster itemized deductions even yet.  And not just teachers; I've filed several clients who'd become remote-only employees last year and so, newly qualify for the office-in-home deduction.  Asking whether such folks have upgraded their Internet and/or wifi and/or hardware, increased their bandwidth to accommodate more/faster video, simply bought a rug to improve acoustic, setc. has yielded more of a deduction, as well.

[BulldogTom]

10 minutes ago, TaxCPANY said:

But don't neglect those states that "decoupled" from TCJA such as New York, where a state-only 2106 can bolster itemized deductions even yet.  And not just teachers; I've filed several clients who'd become remote-only employees last year and so, newly qualify for the office-in-home deduction.  Asking whether such folks have upgraded their Internet and/or wifi and/or hardware, increased their bandwidth to accommodate more/faster video, simply bought a rug to improve acoustic, setc. has yielded more of a deduction, as well.

Same for CA.   Put it on the 2106 and flow it through to the state.  

Tom
Modesto, CA

[Possi]

Is there a list of states that we can use this? I have just completed several CA returns and didn't know this. They wouldn't benefit from it anyway, as they don't itemize, but I might have some in the future.

[Lion EA]

I think AICPA was keeping a list and updating it frequently. I'm not a member, so can't find a link now. I think it's outside their firewall. But I probably heard about it in a course who knows when!

[BulldogTom]

39 minutes ago, Possi said:

Is there a list of states that we can use this? I have just completed several CA returns and didn't know this. They wouldn't benefit from it anyway, as they don't itemize, but I might have some in the future.

CA allows you to take the STD deduction on Fed and Itemize on CA.   Because the STD deduction is so low in CA compared to the Fed, lots of my clients are itemizing only for CA.

Tom
Modesto, CA

[Lion EA]

Found AICPA charts called 2020-coronavirus-state-filing-relief and the 2021 version called coronavirus-state-filing-relief. They're big .pdf files with awkward formatting. You'll want the latest version, so do retrieve them from AICPA.org

I'm guessing AICPA has similar charts specific to the states and TCJA like the above re The CARES Act, unless all state decoupling is summarized in the above charts.

[Abby Normal]

46 minutes ago, BulldogTom said:

STD deduction

You get a deduction for having a sexually transmitted disease? Is that for the porn industry?

[Possi]

1 hour ago, BulldogTom said:

CA allows you to take the STD deduction on Fed and Itemize on CA.   Because the STD deduction is so low in CA compared to the Fed, lots of my clients are itemizing only for CA.

Tom
Modesto, CA

Thanks, I wish VA allowed it, same reason. I need to look back at one I just completed.