I have a question for the up coming tax return here in a few months i work at firestone auto care and am a mechanic my toolbox, which i bought from snap on for the value of 1500 before interest and fees, etc. can this a tax write off for a business expense? i had heard it can but had to be at lease more then a few grand dose anyone know Thank you
Bobbie2012-10-13T04:48:09Z
And is this your own personal tools and tool box that you can carry around and use at home also when you are not working at your regular job shop as an employee with and employer that will issuing you a W-2 form after the end of the tax year showing you your GROSS wages earnings in the Box 1 of the W-2 form during the 2013 tax filing season for this purpose RIGHT. Not completely when you can and will also be using them for your own personal use when you would choose to do so and when you would no longer be working at firestone auto care you would be taking the tool box and any of your personal tools back home with you for your personal use or to your next mechanic job for this purpose and time in your life RIGHT. When it is REQUIRED by your employer this might be possible BUT you would have to be able to qualify to use the schedule A itemized deductions of your 1040 income tax return to start with for this purpose and then as a part of your employer related business expenses as miscellaneous itemzed deduction amounts that would also be subject to the 2% of adjusted gross income limit before any of the amount would be added to all of your itemized deduction on the 1040 income tax return for this purpose and time in your life. Topic 508 - Miscellaneous Expenses
http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc508.html
If you have expenses that qualify as miscellaneous itemized deductions, you can deduct the total amount of those expenses only to the extent that they exceed 2% of your adjusted gross income. There are three types of expenses that are subject to the 2% limit. They are unreimbursed employee expenses, tax preparation fees and other expenses. For an explanation of deductible and nondeductible expenses refer to Publication 529, Miscellaneous Deductions.
Certain unreimbursed employee expenses are deductible as miscellaneous itemized deductions on Form 1040, Schedule A. To be deductible, the expense must be:
Paid or incurred in the tax year For carrying on your trade or business of being an employee, and Ordinary and necessary For additional information, refer to the Form 1040, Schedule A Instructions, and Publication 529, Miscellaneous Deductions, or Publication 946, How To Depreciate Property. If you want more in-depth information about educational expenses, refer to Topic 513. For further information on employee business expenses, refer to Topic 511, and Topic 512. Hope that you find the above enclosed information useful. 10/13/2012
As an "expense", no. An "expense" is something that gets used up in less than a year, like paper towels.
Things that last more than a year are capital expenditures. You calculate the "depreciation". Each year that you own the thing, you write off that year's "depreciation".