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The company I'm employed by contracts labor to other companies (clients). I'm one of the non-exempt minions that perform that labor. The client I currently work with provided me with a laptop solely for use in my work. I've chosen to purchase memory solely for use in this laptop.

Given this situation, can I write off this purchase? If so, are there conditions I need to meet?

This is my first foray into considering these things. I read that some work related costs can be written off. I'm not clear if this is one of them or even if I am in a situation where I could write things off to begin with.

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The condition, if any, is that these expenses are deductible to the extent they exceed 2% of your adjusted gross income. Then it flows to Schedule A, where if all your deductions don't exceed the standard deduction, you should skip it all and file with the standard deduction.

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  • The item cost is far less than 2% of my AGI, and far less than the standard deduction. Now that you mention it, I always end up with the standard deduction as my other deductibles never exceed that. It seems I would need to make a significant investment before that sort of write off becomes a possibility for me.
    – Ouroborus
    Commented Oct 12, 2016 at 2:07
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    @JoeTaxpayer: Isn't there any requirement that the purchase is mandated by the employer, or is necessary to fulfill your job duty? Could you just buy anything (work-related) you wanted and deduct it, for example a high-end laptop? (Aside from the fact that the IRS would have difficulties knowing exactly what you need for your work and what not)
    – Aganju
    Commented Oct 12, 2016 at 10:23
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    Yes - I aimed for brevity, why even go to that level of detail, when OP won't come close to the numbers required?
    – JTP - Apologise to Monica ♦
    Commented Oct 12, 2016 at 13:22

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