Can I claim tax deduction on expensive job equipment my employer won't buy?

What if OP negotiates a small salary increase to offset the cost of the equipment? Would that be taxable?

A salary increase would definitely be taxable income. You'd pay income tax, Social Security and Medicare taxes on that additional amount. So if your employer increased your salary by $4,200, you might only see around $3,000 after taxes, depending on your tax bracket. If you're going to negotiate something with your employer, try to get them to either purchase the equipment directly or set up an accountable reimbursement plan. With a proper accountable plan, your employer can reimburse you without it counting as taxable income to you, which is much more tax-efficient than a salary increase.

How does this taxr.ai site work exactly? Do they have actual tax professionals reviewing your stuff or is it just automated?

Did they suggest anything beyond the Schedule C approach? Because I'm in a similar situation but with zero side gigs to allocate expenses to.

They have actual tax professionals reviewing everything. You upload your documents, and they analyze them with AI to spot issues, but then real tax experts go through everything and provide personalized recommendations. It's not just cookie-cutter advice. For your situation without side gigs, they actually suggested a few creative approaches. One was to discuss an "accountable plan" with my employer where I could get reimbursed tax-free. They also suggested documenting everything in case tax laws change again and provided some template letters to use when negotiating with my employer. Honestly, it was more comprehensive than I expected.

Wait, how would a service for calling the IRS help with getting equipment approved at work? That doesn't make sense.

Is this just an ad? I'm skeptical that this has anything to do with the original question about tax deductions for work equipment.

The service itself doesn't help with equipment approval - you're right that it's designed for IRS calls. What I meant was that I learned effective communication strategies from their process that I applied to my own workplace situation. I understand your skepticism completely. I'm not affiliated with them in any way - I was just sharing what worked in my similar situation of needing equipment approval. The connection is that both situations (dealing with IRS and dealing with procurement departments) involve navigating bureaucracy to get what you need. The communication techniques I learned from Claimyr helped me be more effective when escalating my equipment requests.

Isn't that kind of playing with fire though? I thought the IRS looks closely at businesses that don't make much profit and might consider them hobbies instead of actual businesses?

You're absolutely right to be concerned about the hobby loss rules. The key is having a genuine profit motive and running it like a real business. Keep separate bank accounts, maintain good records, and ideally make a profit in at least 3 of 5 consecutive years. My photography business actually became profitable in year 2, which helped establish it as a legitimate business. If you're just creating a "business" solely to deduct personal expenses with no real intention of making a profit, that's when you're asking for trouble with the IRS. But if you genuinely start a side business related to your expertise where you can legitimately use the equipment, it can work.

I've definitely thought about this approach, but I'm worried about coming across as difficult or not being a "team player." The company culture is very much about "making it work" even when resources are limited. But you're right - maybe I need to be more direct about how this impacts my ability to do the job they're paying me for.