Can employees claim business expenses for supplies they purchase for work? Tax write-offs for tattoo artists

Unfortunately, this is bad news for your roommate. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act suspended the deduction for unreimbursed employee business expenses from 2018 through 2025. Before this law, employees could deduct these costs as "miscellaneous itemized deductions" on Schedule A if they exceeded 2% of their adjusted gross income. Your roommate has a few options though: 1. Ask their employer to reimburse these expenses. This would be tax-free to your roommate and deductible by the employer. 2. See if the employer would consider reclassifying them as an independent contractor (1099 worker) instead of an employee. As a self-employed person, they could deduct these supplies as business expenses on Schedule C. 3. If your roommate works in multiple shops, they might already qualify as self-employed even with W-2 income from one location. Some states still allow these deductions on state income tax returns even though they're not allowed federally, so that's worth checking too.

I went through something similar with my photography equipment when I worked for a studio. After spending thousands on gear and finding out I couldn't deduct it, I discovered taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) which analyzed my tax situation and found some alternatives. They showed me that while I couldn't deduct the expenses as an employee, I could potentially qualify as a "statutory employee" in my case because I was working at multiple venues. They reviewed my employment contract and tax documents to confirm this. They also identified that some of my equipment had dual purposes that qualified for other deductions. Definitely worth checking out for your roommate's situation since tattoo artists often have unique employment arrangements.

I actually tried taxr.ai after seeing it mentioned here, and I'm kinda surprised. I'm a hairstylist (similar situation - employee but buy all my own scissors, products, etc). They analyzed my employment contract and found that my salon actually had wording that might qualify me as an independent contractor despite getting a W-2. They helped me document everything properly so I could discuss reclassification with my boss, plus identified some education expenses that were still deductible even as an employee. Ended up saving about $1,700 on my taxes this year. Never would have caught this stuff on my own.

This might sound weird, but if your roommate is having trouble getting answers from the IRS about their specific situation, I'd recommend Claimyr (https://claimyr.com). I was in a similar gray area with my job classification and couldn't get through to the IRS for weeks. Claimyr got me connected to a real IRS agent in about 15 minutes when I'd been trying for days. They have a demo showing how it works: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c. The agent was able to clarify exactly what documentation I'd need if I wanted to claim I should be classified differently than what my employer had me as. Saved me a TON of stress wondering if I was filing correctly.

I have to eat crow on this one. After being super skeptical about Claimyr, I tried it because I was desperate to talk to someone about my tattoo business classification. I'd been trying to get through to the IRS for literally 3 weeks with no luck. Claimyr had me on with an actual IRS agent in about 20 minutes. The agent was able to confirm that in my specific situation, I could potentially file as a statutory employee even though I get a W-2, because of how my contract is structured with the shop. This is potentially saving me thousands in deductions. Wish I'd known about this years ago instead of just accepting what my employer decided about my classification.

Your roommate should talk to their employer about a couple options: 1. Request reimbursement for supplies through an accountable plan. This would let them get reimbursed tax-free. 2. Ask about changing their employment structure. Many tattoo artists work as booth renters (self-employed) rather than employees specifically because of the equipment issue. The shop is honestly getting a great deal if they're paying employment taxes on them but making them buy all their own equipment. Most tattoo artists I know either work as independent contractors or the shop provides the basics.

I'm a tattoo artist and this is exactly why I left being an employee! The booth rental/independent contractor route is WAY better tax-wise if you're buying all your own stuff anyway. One thing nobody mentioned - if your roommate gets reclassified, they should look into setting up an LLC or S-Corp eventually. Once you're making decent money (like $40k+), the tax savings can be huge. My accountant saved me about $6k last year through my S-Corp setup.