Question

Can my husband who is a mechanic deduct the cost of his helper as a job-related expense?

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
June 5, 2019
8 replies
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My husband is a mechanic. As part of his job he has been given a helper. One of the conditions for having this helper is that he must pay 50% of the helper's hourly rate. This expense is deducted directly from his paycheck. Is this expense deductible?

TurboTax Deluxe Online

O

Opus 17

Employee

Your spouse is a W-2 employee? And not an independent contractor?

O

Opus 17

Employee

And assuming he is a W-2 employee, will his W-2 at the end of the year reflect his gross earnings before or after the deduction? In other words, if his salary is (for example) $60,000 per year, and he is paying $5000 for the helper, will his W-2 show income of $60,000 or $55,000?

A

aloconnor12Author

Yes, he is a W2 employee. On his pay stub it would say regular pay $2,000.00 helper deduction $500.00 total pay $1,500.00.

fanfare

Employee

your husband should find a new employer. You can tell him I said that.

O

Opus 17

Employee

It would be better if the employer reduced his salary and paid him $1500 flat. Or if the W-2 would have the $1500 figure. That way the income would be reduced, resulting in lower tax. No deduction, but you aren't taxed on income you never get.

As is, if the W-2 shows the effect of $2000 gross, then the expense is an unreimbursed work expense which is an itemized deduction subject to the 2% rule. You will get some deduction depending on his income and other itemized deductions but at best it will be partial only.

Really not a good way to do this.

Hal_Al

Employee

Check the withholding on the pay stub. Is he paying social security and medicare tax on $2000 or only $1500? If only $1500; then the deduction has already been taken for tax purposes. If not, he should talk to them about changing that

O

Opus 17

Employee

Social Security is 6.2% of the gross taxable income. If you divide the amount of Social Security tax by 6.2%, the result will be the wages that he is paying tax on.

Hal_Al

Employee

The simple answer to your question is: Yes, he can deduct that. That's clearly a job or business expense. That answer assumes that his W-2 (or 1099-Misc) does not already show a reduced net pay (meaning the expense has already been deducted)

How he goes about deducting it depends on whether he is a regular W-2 employee or a contract (1099-Misc) employee