What Can Police Officers Write Off on Taxes?

For a police officer paid on a W-2, the honest answer to what you can write off on taxes is: almost nothing on your federal return. Congress suspended the deduction for unreimbursed employee expenses in 2018 and made that suspension permanent in 2025. The real deductions live elsewhere — in off-duty work reported on Schedule C, in a narrow federal carve-out for military reservists and fee-basis officials, and in state returns for the states that never followed the federal change.

Federal Write-Offs for W-2 Officers Are Gone for Good

Before 2018, an officer could deduct uniforms, gear, union dues, training, and other job costs as miscellaneous itemized deductions subject to a 2 percent of AGI floor.¹ The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act suspended that whole category, and many officers assumed it would return after 2025.

It won’t. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed in 2025, added a new IRC Section 67(h) that makes the elimination permanent. There is no scheduled sunset and no phase-in. Every out-of-pocket cost a salaried officer incurs because of the job — uniforms, body armor, firearms, ammunition, training, professional dues, required medical exams — produces zero federal tax benefit as long as you’re a W-2 employee.

Two Federal Exceptions Worth Checking

Fee-Basis Government Officials

If part or all of your pay comes on a fee basis rather than a fixed salary, 26 U.S.C. § 62(a)(2)(C) lets you deduct job-related expenses above the line, straight against gross income.² The IRS treats these expenses much like self-employment deductions.¹ Most patrol officers and detectives are on a straight salary and don’t qualify. Some elected sheriffs, constables, and part-time court officers paid per case do. If any slice of your pay is fee-based, ask a tax professional to look at it.

Armed Forces Reservists

If you also serve in a reserve component and travel more than 100 miles from home for reserve duty, you get an above-the-line deduction for unreimbursed transportation, lodging, and incidental costs from the time you leave home until you return.² Meals don’t qualify under this provision.³ For 2026, the standard mileage rate is 72.5 cents per mile.⁴ Report the expenses on Form 2106 and carry them to Schedule 1. The deduction applies only to reserve travel, not to your police job.

Off-Duty Work Is Where the Deductions Actually Live

The biggest tax opportunity for most officers is off-duty work performed as an independent contractor. Private security at a venue, corporate consulting, running a firearms training business — that income lands on Schedule C, and Schedule C deductions sit above the line, entirely untouched by the elimination of miscellaneous itemized deductions.⁵

Every ordinary and necessary expense tied to that 1099 work becomes deductible: gear used on the detail, ammunition for qualification, mileage to and from the job site, training that supports the side business, professional liability insurance for the private work. The words “tied to” carry the weight. Your department-issued duty belt isn’t a deduction against your security-gig income. The expense has to relate to the self-employment activity, not your salaried position.

Vehicle Expenses

You can use the standard mileage rate — 72.5 cents per mile for 2026 — or track actual expenses like gas, insurance, maintenance, and depreciation and deduct the business-use percentage.⁴ If you want the standard rate, you have to choose it in the first year the vehicle is available for business; in later years you can switch to actual expenses.⁶ Either way, keep a mileage log with the date, destination, business purpose, and miles for each trip. A once-a-year estimate won’t hold up.

Home Office

Space used exclusively and regularly for the side business supports a home office deduction against Schedule C income. The simplified method is $5 per square foot up to 300 square feet, capped at $1,500.⁷ The regular method prorates actual expenses like rent, utilities, and insurance by the business percentage of the home. W-2 employees can’t claim a home office at all, so this deduction only exists where there’s 1099 income for it to offset.

The Self-Employment Tax Catch

Schedule C income owes self-employment tax on top of income tax: 15.3 percent of net earnings, covering both sides of Social Security and Medicare.⁸ The 12.4 percent Social Security portion applies to combined wages and self-employment income up to $184,500 in 2026.⁹ The 2.9 percent Medicare portion has no cap. If your police salary already exceeds the Social Security wage base, your off-duty earnings only owe the 2.9 percent. For most officers, the full 15.3 percent applies. You can deduct half the SE tax as an adjustment to income, which softens the bill without erasing it. Run the math before assuming Schedule C deductions turn off-duty work into a tax windfall.

State Returns Are Often a Different Story

The permanent federal elimination doesn’t rewrite state tax law. A number of states never conformed to the TCJA change and still allow unreimbursed employee business expenses on the state return. Rules vary: some states use their own itemized schedules, others start from federal AGI and require add-backs, a few conform fully. You can generally itemize on the state return even if you take the federal standard deduction.

If your state is one of the holdouts, every category you would have deducted federally before 2018 stays live on the state return, and careful tracking can be worth several hundred dollars a year in a high-tax state. The list of conforming states shifts, though, so check your state’s forms or ask a preparer who works your state.

What Your Department’s Reimbursement Plan Does First

Before you think about deductions, look at what your department already covers. Under IRS rules, an accountable plan needs three things: a business connection, substantiation with receipts, and a requirement that you return any excess reimbursement within a reasonable time.¹⁰ When those conditions are met, the reimbursement stays off your W-2 entirely and the cost is a non-issue for your return. If any condition fails, the whole reimbursement shows up as taxable wages, and with the federal deduction gone you have no way to offset it.

The practical rule: if your agency offers accountable-plan reimbursement, use it. Full recovery tax-free beats any fractional recovery through a deduction.

Expense Categories Worth Tracking Anyway

Even with no federal deduction for W-2 income, keep records. The same expenses feed state returns, they support Schedule C deductions when the work is 1099, and they document what you’ve paid if reimbursement policies change.

Uniforms and Protective Gear

The IRS test has two parts: required as a condition of employment, and not suitable for everyday wear. A standard uniform with badge, patches, and insignia passes both, as do body armor, ballistic helmets, duty belts, and tactical boots built for law enforcement. Generic black pants or a plain polo your department requires fails the second part. Deductible costs include purchase price plus cleaning, alterations, and repairs. Save the dry-cleaning receipts.

Training, Education, and Certifications

Continuing education, advanced certifications, and specialized courses your department requires but doesn’t pay for are ordinary and necessary expenses under Section 162.¹¹ Firearms instructor courses, crisis intervention training, and forensic investigation certifications all fit. The training must maintain or improve current-job skills. Something that qualifies you for a new profession, like law school, doesn’t count.

Professional Dues and Liability Insurance

Union dues and law enforcement association memberships tied to your work qualify. So do premiums for private professional liability coverage against on-duty conduct claims. If your department reimburses part of the premium under an accountable plan, that portion is tax-free and only the remainder is your out-of-pocket expense.

Required Medical Exams

Annual physicals, psychological evaluations, and fitness-for-duty exams your employer mandates but doesn’t pay for are business expenses, not personal medical costs. They exist because of the job, so they sit in the business-expense category rather than the Schedule A medical deduction.

Record-Keeping That Holds Up

The IRS standard is the same whether the deduction shows up on a state return, on Schedule C, or nowhere yet. Each expense needs the amount, the date, the place or vendor, and the business purpose.¹² A receipt without a purpose noted isn’t enough. Write a short note on the receipt or keep a log tying each purchase to the job.

Receipts aren’t required for individual expenses under $75 other than lodging. Above that, keep the original receipt, a scan, or a credit card statement paired with a vendor receipt.¹² A log kept weekly, close to when you spent the money, counts as timely. Reconstructing a year of purchases the night before your appointment doesn’t.

Keep records at least three years from the date you file the return.¹³ Longer is better when off-duty income makes your gross income swing year to year.

1
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 529, Miscellaneous Deductions
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 62 – Adjusted Gross Income Defined
3
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 3 (2025), Armed Forces’ Tax Guide
4
Internal Revenue Service. IRS Sets 2026 Business Standard Mileage Rate at 72.5 Cents Per Mile, Up 2.5 Cents
5
Internal Revenue Service. About Schedule C (Form 1040), Profit or Loss From Business (Sole Proprietorship)
6
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Schedule C (Form 1040) (2025)
7
Internal Revenue Service. Simplified Option for Home Office Deduction
8
Internal Revenue Service. Self-Employment Tax (Social Security and Medicare Taxes)
9
Social Security Administration. Contribution and Benefit Base
10
Internal Revenue Service. Revenue Ruling 2003-106
11
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S.C. 162 – Trade or Business Expenses
12
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 463 (2025), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses
13
Internal Revenue Service. How Long Should I Keep Records