The new work from home conundrum

A few posts ago I talked about the need for some changes to laws or rules or regulations to start protecting a new workforce or people that may be moved to home so businesses can save some money. I mentioned there might be new issues to resolve or work out since many people were making major changes to their homes to be able to do this because of the pandemic.

I just read an article that talks about one of these problems and guess what, it comes back to bite us from the former President’s 2017 tax law.

Here is a bit from an article from Yahoo Money by Janna Herron. God only knows if I will get into trouble from copying these two paragraphs that I included below, but to better start waking up the American workforce you need to start gathering this information. I will take the chance because at least I care.* The two paragraphs below I found very interesting

Regular employees

Many companies allowed or even encouraged their employees to work from home during the coronavirus pandemic, but any expenses employees incurred to make the new setup work aren’t deductible on your federal income tax returns. Nor are any expenses related to your home office space, like utilities, insurance, or taxes.

That’s because the Tax Cut and Jobs Act, signed into law at the end of 2017 under the Trump administration, got rid of the unreimbursed business expense deduction for employees along with the home office deduction for employees.

This goes to two of my favorite talking points, the tax code disfavors the middle class and we need to rethink how we write public policy. I wonder if anyone in Congress has thought about what you need for tax purposes and/or help you get reimbursed from your company. I said in the previous post change is going to happen and we need to start addressing it from our end. This article was about the ability to claim tax deductions on working from home and there is more to it, but for many people this is going to hit home hard. I know because the better half hasn’t spent a full five days in her old office since March of 2020 and she is working more than full time. I bet way too many others are in the same boat. 

And then there are teachers who are in a current yo yo of home virtual teaching and some classroom teaching. Another very specific group that needs help.

Start writing your state and national legislators or soon you will have more heaped on you to benefit the one group who needs no benefits.

*And speaking of caring how in the heck did AOC figure out helping people here in Texas when one of her biggest critics split for Mexico. Aren’t conservatives suppose to be the Christians?  Yes, they are, but some people really aren’t conservatives......