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Comment by rbreve | Hacker News Reader

In Finland people who work from home and bought anything needed to work, for example a desk, chair, display or headphones, they get a tax refund.

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You don’t get a tax refund, but your taxable income is reduced by the expense amount, so you you’re still paying for the 100% - (your marginal tax rate)% of the items, and hence paying yourself for items that your employer would have provided for your work use for free if you would work in an office instead.

I do feel too that the employer should provide the equipment and working environment.

That used to be the case in the US, too. And the same was true of rent/mortgage/heat/etc costs IF the room you used for an office was only used for that purpose. Sadly, the tax laws changed recently and you no longer get to claim them (unless self employed).

Are you sure?

I know the standard deduction was raised significantly to cover such items, and only a couple other deductions allowed in the simplified tax filing.

But if you want to go the complex route these things can still be deducted. Just may not be worth hiring a CPA to file your returns to get a couple hundred back as only the CPA wins in such a case....

I'm not 100% positive, but I do use a tax accountant to do my taxes and, for the last two years, he's been confident that home office expenses can no longer be deducted (unless self employed). I have no reason not to trust him.

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