Fillable Printable Form 2106-EZ
Fillable Printable Form 2106-EZ
Form 2106-EZ
Form 2106-EZ
Department of the Treasury
Internal Revenue Service (99)
Unreimbursed Employee Business Expenses
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Attach to Form 1040 or Form 1040NR.
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Information about Form 2106-EZ and its instructions is available at www.irs.gov/form2106ez.
OMB No. 1545-0074
2016
Attachment
Sequence No. 129A
Your name Occupation in which you incurred expenses Social security number
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 doesn't have to be required to be considered necessary.
• You don't get reimbursed by your employer for any expenses (amounts your employer included in box 1 of your Form W-2 aren't
considered reimbursements for this purpose).
• If you are claiming vehicle expense, you are using the standard mileage rate for 2016.
Caution: You can use the standard mileage rate for 2016 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
Figure Your Expenses
1 Complete Part II. Multiply line 8a by 54¢ (0.54). Enter the result here . . . . . . . . . 1
2 Parking fees, tolls, and transportation, including train, bus, etc., that didn't involve overnight
travel or commuting to and from work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2
3 Travel expense while away from home overnight, including lodging, airplane, car rental, etc.
Don't include meals and entertainment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3
4 Business expenses not included on lines 1 through 3. Don't include meals and
entertainment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4
5 Meals and entertainment expenses: $ × 50% (0.50). (Employees subject to
Department of Transportation (DOT) hours of service limits: Multiply meal expenses incurred
while away from home on business by 80% (0.80) instead of 50%. For details, see instructions.)
5
6
Total expenses. Add lines 1 through 5. Enter here and on Schedule A (Form 1040), line 21 (or
on Schedule A (Form 1040NR), line 7). (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.
7 When did you place your vehicle in service for business use? (month, day, year)
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/ /
8 Of the total number of miles you drove your vehicle during 2016, enter the number of miles you used your vehicle for:
a
Business
b
Commuting (see instructions)
c
Other
9 Was your vehicle available for personal use during off-duty hours? . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Yes No
10 Do you (or your spouse) have another vehicle available for personal use? . . . . . . . . . . . .
Yes No
11a Do you have evidence to support your deduction? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Yes No
b If “Yes,” is the evidence written? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Yes No
For Paperwork Reduction Act Notice, see your tax return instructions.
Cat. No. 20604Q
Form 2106-EZ (2016)
[This Page Left Intentionally Blank]
Form 2106-EZ (2016)
Page 3
Instructions for
Form 2106-EZ
Section references are to the Internal
Revenue Code.
What’s New
Standard mileage rate. The 2016 rate for
business use of your vehicle is 54 cents
(0.54) a mile.
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 can't 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 can't deduct
expenses for travel away from your tax
home for any period of temporary
employment of more than 1 year. Don't
include expenses for meals and
entertainment on this line. For more details,
including limits, see Pub. 463.
If you didn't 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. The term "incidental expenses"
means fees and tips given to porters,
baggage carriers, hotel staff, and staff on
ships. It doesn't include expenses for
laundry, cleaning and pressing of clothing,
lodging taxes, costs of telegrams or
telephone calls, transportation between
places of lodging or business and places
where meals are taken, or the mailing cost
of filing travel vouchers and paying
employer-sponsored charge card billings.
You can't 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 don't
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 don't 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 can't 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.
Don't include on line 4 any (a) educator
expenses you deducted on Form 1040, line
23, or Form 1040NR, line 24, or (b) any
tuition and fees you deducted on Form
1040, line 34.
TIP
You may be able to take a credit
for your educational expenses
instead of a deduction. See
Form 8863, Education Credits,
for details.
Don't 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), line 1. Employees can't
deduct car loan interest.
Note: If line 4 is your only entry, don't
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 aren't required to file
Form 2106-EZ, enter your expenses
directly on Schedule A (Form 1040), line 21
(or on Schedule A (Form 1040NR), line 7).
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, instead of
keeping records of your actual meal
expenses, you deduct a specified amount,
depending on where you travel. 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 $51 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.
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.
Form 2106-EZ (2016)
Page 4
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 2016. 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-arts-
related expenses in the total on Form 1040,
line 24 (or on Form 1040NR, line 35), and
attach Form 2106-EZ to your return. Your
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
7).
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 impairment-related
work expenses on Schedule A (Form 1040),
line 28 (or on Schedule A (Form 1040NR),
line 14). These expenses aren't 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 7).
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. Don't include commuting miles
on this line; commuting miles aren't
considered business miles. See the
definition of commuting under Line 8b.
Line 8b. If you don't 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 isn't 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.
