Definition

• Unreimbursed employee expenses are those which the employer requires the employee to pay on his own, such as a salesman who buys his own laptop to make sales presentations. The corollary to this for business owners would be job-related expenses, such as a home office to meet with clients and do work.
  
  

Benefits

• You can deduct many unreimbursed employee expenses on Schedule A of your tax return. To deduct them, the expenses must be "ordinary and necessary" for your job, according to the Internal Revenue Service. Usually, commuting expenses do not qualify for tax break, even though you must travel for your job. Normal deductible expenses include licenses, a passport for travel, job search expenses and a uniform. You must accrue expenses that exceed 2 percent of your net income before you can deduct anything on a Schedule A. (ref 2 and 3))
  
  

Considerations

• Ask your employer for a list of expenses it will cover, especially when you have to move and the company includes relocation costs as part of a signing bonus. The employer, for example, may pay only a portion of your moving expenses. The unreimbursed portion is deductible. Review any expense that might be related to your job. For instance, the IRS allows you to deduct expenses related to moving a pet when you relocate to a job more than 50 miles from your old home.
  
  

Tip

• Consult a tax professional to help you find and take legitimate business expenses. If you deduct a laptop or other asset, you may need to depreciate it over several years. Also, itemizing your return may not be worth the trouble unless it saves you a significant amount of money over the standard deduction. For example, if your standard deduction is $5,700 but you have only $5,800 in itemized expenses, the extra audit risk and time might outweigh the extra $100 you can deduct from your income.