Form 2106-EZ Unreimbursed Employee Business Expenses

Form

2106-EZ

OMB No. 1545-0074

Unreimbursed Employee Business Expenses

Department of the Treasury
Internal Revenue Service (99)
Your name

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2010

Attachment
Sequence No.
Social security number

Attach to Form 1040 or Form 1040NR.
Occupation in which you incurred expenses

129A

You Can Use This Form Only if All of the Following Apply.
• You are an employee deducting ordinary and necessary expenses attributable to your job. An ordinary expense is one that is
common and accepted in your field of trade, business, or profession. A necessary expense is one that is helpful and appropriate for
your business. An expense does not have to be required to be considered necessary.
• You do not get reimbursed by your employer for any expenses (amounts your employer included in box 1 of your Form W-2 are not
considered reimbursements for this purpose).
• If you are claiming vehicle expense, you are using the standard mileage rate for 2010.
Caution: You can use the standard mileage rate for 2010 only if: (a) you owned the vehicle and used the standard mileage rate for the first year
you placed the vehicle in service, or (b) you leased the vehicle and used the standard mileage rate for the portion of the lease period after 1997.

Part I
1

2

3

4

5

6

Figure Your Expenses

Vehicle expense using the standard mileage rate. Complete Part II and multiply line 8a by 50¢
(.50)
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1

Parking fees, tolls, and transportation, including train, bus, etc., that did not involve overnight
travel or commuting to and from work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2

Travel expense while away from home overnight, including lodging, airplane, car rental, etc. Do
not include meals and entertainment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

3

Business expenses not included on lines 1 through 3. Do not include meals and
entertainment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4

Meals and entertainment expenses: $
× 50% (.50). (Employees subject to
Department of Transportation (DOT) hours of service limits: Multiply meal expenses incurred
while away from home on business by 80% (.80) instead of 50%. For details, see instructions.)

5

Total expenses. Add lines 1 through 5. Enter here and on Schedule A (Form 1040), line 21 (or
on Schedule A (Form 1040NR), line 9). (Armed Forces reservists, fee-basis state or local
government officials, qualified performing artists, and individuals with disabilities: See the
instructions for special rules on where to enter this amount.) . . . . . . . . . . . .

6

Part II

Information on Your Vehicle. Complete this part only if you are claiming vehicle expense on line 1.
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7

When did you place your vehicle in service for business use? (month, day, year) ▶

8

Of the total number of miles you drove your vehicle during 2010, enter the number of miles you used your vehicle for:
a

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Business

b Commuting (see instructions)

c

Other

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Yes

No

10

Do you (or your spouse) have another vehicle available for personal use? .

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Yes

No

11a

Do you have evidence to support your deduction?

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Yes

No

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Yes

No

Was your vehicle available for personal use during off-duty hours? .

b If “Yes,” is the evidence written? .

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For Paperwork Reduction Act Notice, see your tax return instructions.

Cat. No. 20604Q

Form 2106-EZ (2010)

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Form 2106-EZ (2010)

Instructions for
Form 2106-EZ
Section references are to the Internal
Revenue Code.

What’s New
Standard mileage rate. The 2010 rate for
business use of your vehicle is 50 cents a
mile.
Cell phones. Cellular telephones and other
similar telecommunications equipment are
no longer listed property. Beginning in
2010, an employee may be able to deduct
job-related expenses related to using a cell
phone even though the use was not for the
convenience of his or her employer and
required as a condition of employment. For
more information about deducting
unreimbursed employee expenses, see
Pub. 529.

Purpose of Form
You can use Form 2106-EZ instead of
Form 2106 to claim your unreimbursed
employee business expenses if you meet
all the requirements listed above Part I of
the form.

Recordkeeping
You cannot deduct expenses for travel
(including meals, unless you used the
standard meal allowance), entertainment,
gifts, or use of a car or other listed
property, unless you keep records to prove
the time, place, business purpose,
business relationship (for entertainment
and gifts), and amounts of these expenses.
Generally, you must also have receipts for
all lodging expenses (regardless of the
amount) and any other expense of $75 or
more.

Additional Information
For more details about employee business
expenses, see:
Pub. 463, Travel, Entertainment, Gift, and
Car Expenses
Pub. 529, Miscellaneous Deductions
Pub. 587, Business Use of Your Home
(Including Use by Daycare Providers)
Pub. 946, How To Depreciate Property

Specific Instructions
Part I—Figure Your
Expenses
Line 2. See the line 8b instructions for the
definition of commuting.
Line 3. Enter lodging and transportation
expenses connected with overnight travel
away from your tax home (defined on this
page). You generally cannot deduct
expenses for travel away from your tax
home for any period of temporary
employment of more than 1 year. Do not
include expenses for meals and
entertainment on this line. For more details,
including limits, see Pub. 463.

If you did not pay or incur meal expenses
on a day you were traveling away from your
tax home, you can use an optional method
for deducting incidental expenses instead
of keeping records of your actual incidental
expenses. The amount of the deduction is
$5 a day. Incidental expenses include fees
and tips given to porters, baggage carriers,
bellhops, hotel maids, stewards or
stewardesses and others on ships, and
hotel servants in foreign countries. They do
not include expenses for laundry, cleaning
and pressing of clothing, lodging taxes, or
the costs of telegrams or telephone calls.
You cannot use this method on any day
that you use the standard meal allowance
(as explained in the instructions for line 5).
Tax home. Generally, your tax home is
your regular or main place of business or
post of duty regardless of where you
maintain your family home. If you do not
have a regular or main place of business
because of the nature of your work, then
your tax home may be the place where you
regularly live. If you do not fit in either of
these categories, you are considered an
itinerant and your tax home is wherever
you work. As an itinerant, you are never
away from home and cannot claim a travel
expense deduction. For more information
about determining your tax home, see Pub.
463.
Line 4. Enter other job-related expenses
not listed on any other line of this form.
Include expenses for business gifts,
education (tuition, fees, and books), home
office, trade publications, etc. For details,
including limits, see Pub. 463 and Pub.
529.
If you are deducting home office
expenses, see Pub. 587 for special
instructions on how to report these
expenses.
If you are deducting depreciation or
claiming a section 179 deduction, see
Form 4562, Depreciation and Amortization,
to figure the depreciation and section 179
deduction to enter on line 4.
At the time these instructions
went to print, Congress was
considering legislation that
CAUTION
would extend the deductions
for educator expenses and tuition and fees
that expired at the end of 2009. While these
expenses may be deductible on Form
2106-EZ, it may be to your benefit to
deduct them on your tax return as
adjustments to your total income. To find
out if this legislation was enacted, and for
more details, go to www.irs.gov/form2106.

!
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You may be able to take a
for your educational
TIP credit
expenses instead of a
deduction. See Form 8863,
Education Credits, for details.

Do not include expenses for meals and
entertainment, taxes, or interest on line 4.
Deductible taxes are entered on Schedule
A (Form 1040), lines 5 through 9; Schedule
A (Form 1040NR), lines 1 through 3; or
Schedule L (Form 1040A or 1040).
Employees cannot deduct car loan interest.
Note. If line 4 is your only entry, do not
complete Form 2106-EZ unless you are
claiming:
• Expenses for performing your job as a
fee-basis state or local government official,
• Performing-arts-related business
expenses as a qualified performing artist,
or
• Impairment-related work expenses as an
individual with a disability.
See the line 6 instructions, below, for
definitions. If you are not required to file
Form 2106-EZ, enter your expenses
directly on Schedule A (Form 1040), line 21
(or on Schedule A (Form 1040NR), line 9).
Line 5. Generally, you can deduct only
50% of your business meal and
entertainment expenses, including meals
incurred while away from home on
business. If you were an employee subject
to the DOT hours of service limits, that
percentage is 80% for business meals
consumed during, or incident to, any
period of duty for which those limits are in
effect.
Employees subject to the DOT hours of
service limits include certain air
transportation employees, such as pilots,
crew, dispatchers, mechanics, and control
tower operators; interstate truck operators
and interstate bus drivers; certain railroad
employees, such as engineers, conductors,
train crews, dispatchers, and control
operations personnel; and certain
merchant mariners.
Instead of actual cost, you may be able
to claim the standard meal allowance for
your daily meals and incidental expenses
(M&IE) while away from your tax home
overnight. Under this method, you deduct a
specified amount, depending on where you
travel, instead of keeping records of your
actual meal expenses. However, you must
still keep records to prove the time, place,
and business purpose of your travel.
The standard meal allowance is the
federal M&IE rate. For most small localities
in the United States, this rate is $46 a day.
Most major cities and many other localities
in the United States qualify for higher rates.
You can find these rates at www.gsa.gov/
perdiem.
For locations outside the continental
United States, the applicable rates are
published each month. You can find these
rates at www.state.gov/travel/ and select
the option for “Foreign Per Diem Rates.”
See Pub. 463 for details on how to figure
your deduction using the standard meal
allowance, including special rules for partial
days of travel and for transportation
workers.

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Form 2106-EZ (2010)

Line 6. If you are one of the individuals
discussed below, special rules apply to
deducting your employee business
expenses.
Ministers. Before entering your total
expenses on line 6, you must reduce them
by the amount allocable to your tax-free
allowance(s). See Pub. 517 for more
information.
Armed Forces reservist (member of a
reserve component). You are a member
of a reserve component of the Armed
Forces of the United States if you are in the
Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, or
Coast Guard Reserve; the Army National

Guard of the United States; the Air
National Guard of the United States; or
the Reserve Corps of the Public Health
Service.
If you qualify, complete Form 2106-EZ
and include the part of the line 6 amount
attributable to the expenses for travel
more than 100 miles away from home in
connection with your performance of
services as a member of the reserves on
Form 1040, line 24, and attach Form
2106-EZ to your return. The amount of
expenses you can deduct on Form 1040,
line 24, is limited to the regular federal
per diem rate (for lodging, meals, and
incidental expenses) and the standard
mileage rate (for car expenses), plus any
parking fees, ferry fees, and tolls. These
reserve-related travel expenses are
deductible whether or not you itemize
deductions. Enter the remaining
expenses from line 6 on Schedule A
(Form 1040), line 21. See Pub. 463 for
more information.
Fee-basis state or local government
official. You are a qualifying fee-basis
official if you are employed by a state or
political subdivision of a state and are
compensated, in whole or part, on a fee
basis.
If you qualify, include the part of the
line 6 amount attributable to expenses
you incurred for services performed in
that job in the total on Form 1040, line
24, and attach Form 2106-EZ to your
return. These employee business
expenses are deductible whether or not
you itemize deductions. Enter the
remaining expenses from line 6 on
Schedule A (Form 1040), line 21.

Qualified performing artist. You are
a qualified performing artist if you:
1. Performed services in the
performing arts as an employee for at
least two employers during the tax year,
2. Received at least $200 each from
any two of these employers,
3. Had allowable business expenses
attributable to the performing arts of
more than 10% of gross income from
the performing arts, and
4. Had adjusted gross income of
$16,000 or less before deducting
expenses as a performing artist.
In addition, if you are married, you
must file a joint return unless you lived
apart from your spouse for all of 2010. If
you file a joint return, you must figure
requirements (1), (2), and (3) separately
for both you and your spouse. However,
requirement (4) applies to the combined
adjusted gross income of both you and
your spouse.
If you meet all of the above
requirements, include the part of the line
6 amount attributable to performing-artsrelated expenses in the total on Form
1040, line 24 (or on Form 1040NR, line
35), and attach Form 2106-EZ to your
return. These performing-arts-related
business expenses are deductible
whether or not you itemize deductions.
Enter the remaining expenses from line 6
on Schedule A (Form 1040), line 21 (or
on Schedule A (Form 1040NR), line 9).
Disabled employee with
impairment-related work expenses.
Impairment-related work expenses are
the allowable expenses of an individual
with physical or mental disabilities for
attendant care at his or her place of
employment. They also include other
expenses in connection with the place of
employment that enable the employee to
work. See Pub. 463 for details.
If you qualify, enter the part of the line
6 amount attributable to impairmentrelated work expenses on Schedule A
(Form 1040), line 28 (or on Schedule A
(Form 1040NR), line 16). These expenses
are not subject to the 2% limit that
applies to most other employee business
expenses. Enter the remaining expenses
from line 6 on Schedule A (Form 1040),
line 21 (or on Schedule A (Form
1040NR), line 9).

Part II—Information on Your
Vehicle
If you claim vehicle expense, you must
provide certain information on the use of
your vehicle by completing Part II.
Include an attachment listing the
information requested in Part II for any
additional vehicles you used for business
during the year.
Line 7. The date placed in service is
generally the date you first start using
your vehicle. However, if you first start
using your vehicle for personal use and
later convert it to business use, the
vehicle is treated as placed in service on
the date you started using it for
business.
Line 8a. Do not include commuting
miles on this line; commuting miles are
not considered business miles. See the
definition of commuting under Line 8b.
Line 8b. If you do not know the total
actual miles you used your vehicle for
commuting during the year, figure the
amount to enter on line 8b by multiplying
the number of days during the year that
you used your vehicle for commuting by
the average daily roundtrip commuting
distance in miles. However, if you
converted your vehicle during the year
from personal to business use (or vice
versa), enter your commuting miles only
for the period you drove your vehicle for
business.
Generally, commuting is travel
between your home and a work location.
However, travel that meets any of the
following conditions is not commuting.
• You have at least one regular work
location away from your home and the
travel is to a temporary work location in
the same trade or business, regardless
of the distance. Generally, a temporary
work location is one where your
employment is expected to last 1 year or
less. See Pub. 463 for details.
• The travel is to a temporary work
location outside the metropolitan area
where you live and normally work.
• Your home is your principal place of
business under section 280A(c)(1)(A) (for
purposes of deducting expenses for
business use of your home) and the
travel is to another work location in the
same trade or business, regardless of
whether that location is regular or
temporary and regardless of distance.