Originally Posted by Adam (Post 980176)

Not the advice I got from a tax pro. Commuting to work from home is not deductible for W2 employees. No one I know of is W2 for officiating. Independent contractors (what we do) are different, though, and can deduct mileage to and from games.

As always, consult your tax professional.

Originally Posted by Welpe (Post 980211)

That's the same exact advice I've gotten. I trust this lady, she used to work for the IRS and trained quite a few agents.

Originally Posted by scrounge (Post 980182)

Additionally, and probably of much more relevance to most officials, mileage from your regular work location to a temporary work location (which almost everywhere we officiate would be unless you're going to the same place so often that it's a regular work location) is deductible, regardless of home office status. The home office thing is essentially the same thing, since it would then be your regular location so travel from home directly to the temp work location would then be deductible.

Here's a handy chart from the IRS to help (not applicable if you work from home):

https://www.irs.gov/publications/images/11081l02.gif

and the original IRS publication:

https://www.irs.gov/publications/p46...link1000136362

Originally Posted by Camron Rust (Post 980245)

Note the line about temporary locations....



I think this implies that someone only doing officiating for income can only deduct their mileage for games outside of their metro area but someone with a day job can deduct it at all times.

Originally Posted by Welpe (Post 980295)

I'm really glad this thread came up now. I'm going to have to discuss this in detail with my tax person since I started working from home this past year.