If you’re a salaried police officer receiving a W-2, the short answer to what police officers can write off on taxes is: very little on your federal return. Congress suspended the deduction for unreimbursed employee business expenses in 2018 and made that suspension permanent in 2025. Real deduction opportunities still exist, but they live in three places: a couple of narrow federal carve-outs, Schedule C for off-duty 1099 work, and state income tax returns in states that didn’t follow the federal change.
The Federal Deduction for Work Expenses Is Gone
Before 2018, officers could deduct uniforms, union dues, training, and similar out-of-pocket costs as miscellaneous itemized deductions, subject to a 2 percent of adjusted gross income floor. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act suspended the entire category.1Internal Revenue Service. Publication 529, Miscellaneous Deductions Many officers expected it to return after 2025.
It isn’t. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed in 2025, made the elimination permanent under a new IRC Section 67(h). Unreimbursed employee expenses are now permanently nondeductible at the federal level for W-2 workers. No expiration date, no phase-in.
That covers the full list of things officers pay for personally: uniforms, body armor, firearms, ammunition, training courses, professional dues, required medical exams, and anything else you buy because of the job. If your income arrives on a W-2, none of it reduces your federal taxable income.
Two Federal Exceptions That Still Work
The permanent elimination has carve-outs. Two of them occasionally apply to law enforcement.
Fee-Basis Government Officials
If your position pays you wholly or partly on a fee basis rather than a straight salary, 26 U.S.C. ยง 62(a)(2)(C) lets you deduct job-related expenses above the line, directly against gross income.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 62 – Adjusted Gross Income Defined The IRS treats these the way it treats self-employment deductions.1Internal Revenue Service. Publication 529, Miscellaneous Deductions
Most patrol officers and detectives on regular salaries don’t qualify. Some elected sheriffs, constables, and part-time court officers compensated per case do. If any portion of your pay is fee-based, raise this with a tax professional.
Military Reservists Who Travel for Duty
Officers who also serve in a reserve component get an above-the-line deduction for unreimbursed travel when reserve duty takes them more than 100 miles from home.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 62 – Adjusted Gross Income Defined It covers transportation, lodging, and incidentals from the time you leave home until you return. The 2026 standard mileage rate is 72.5 cents per mile.3Internal Revenue Service. IRS Sets 2026 Business Standard Mileage Rate at 72.5 Cents Per Mile, Up 2.5 Cents Meals are not deductible under this provision.4Internal Revenue Service. Publication 3 (2025), Armed Forces’ Tax Guide
Report these on Form 2106 and carry the total to Schedule 1 of Form 1040. The deduction only reaches the reserve travel, not your regular police work.
Off-Duty 1099 Work Is Where the Deductions Live
The biggest tax planning opportunity for police officers is off-duty work done as an independent contractor. Private security details at concert venues, corporate consulting, firearms training businesses: income from any of these is self-employment income reported on Schedule C.5Internal Revenue Service. About Schedule C (Form 1040), Profit or Loss From Business (Sole Proprietorship) Schedule C deductions reduce your adjusted gross income directly, and the 2018 and 2025 changes to miscellaneous deductions do not touch them.
Every ordinary and necessary expense tied to the 1099 work becomes deductible: gear used on the detail, ammunition for qualification, mileage to the job site, training that supports the side business, and private professional liability insurance. The expense must relate to the self-employment activity. Your department-issued duty belt doesn’t become deductible just because you also wear it on a security gig.
Vehicle Expenses
Two options exist for the miles you drive to off-duty jobs in a personal vehicle. The standard mileage rate for 2026 is 72.5 cents per mile.3Internal Revenue Service. IRS Sets 2026 Business Standard Mileage Rate at 72.5 Cents Per Mile, Up 2.5 Cents The alternative is actual expenses, including gas, insurance, maintenance, and depreciation, deducted by business-use percentage. If you use the standard rate, you must choose it in the first year the vehicle is available for business.6Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Schedule C (Form 1040) (2025)
A mileage log is essential either way. Record date, destination, business purpose, and miles for each trip. The IRS will not accept an annual estimate pulled from memory.
Home Office
A space used exclusively and regularly for your security business or consulting practice supports a home office deduction against the Schedule C income. The simplified method pays $5 per square foot up to 300 square feet, capping out at $1,500.7Internal Revenue Service. Simplified Option for Home Office Deduction The regular method prorates actual rent, utilities, and insurance by the percentage of your home used for work. W-2 employees cannot claim a home office at all, so this exists only where you have 1099 income to deduct it against.
Self-Employment Tax
Schedule C income carries a cost many officers underestimate. On top of regular income tax, you owe 15.3 percent of net self-employment earnings for Social Security and Medicare, covering both halves of the payroll tax.8Internal Revenue Service. Self-Employment Tax (Social Security and Medicare Taxes) The 12.4 percent Social Security portion applies to combined wages and self-employment income up to $184,500 in 2026.9Social Security Administration. Contribution and Benefit Base 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 face the 2.9 percent Medicare slice. For most officers the combined total stays below the cap, so the full 15.3 percent applies. You can deduct half of the self-employment tax as an adjustment to income, which softens the hit without erasing it. Run the numbers before assuming Schedule C deductions turn off-duty work into a tax windfall.
State Returns Are a Different Story
The permanent federal elimination does not override state tax law. Many states did not conform to the 2018 TCJA changes and still allow unreimbursed employee business expenses on the state return. The mechanics vary: some states run their own itemized deduction schedules, others start from federal AGI and add items back, and some conform fully to the federal code.
In a state that still allows the deduction, the expenses you would have claimed federally before 2018 remain deductible at the state level. You can itemize on the state return even while taking the federal standard deduction. The savings depend on your state’s rate and any floors it applies. Rules at the state level change often, and a few states that initially preserved the deduction have since fallen into line with the federal elimination. Check your state’s current forms or ask a preparer who works in your state.
Expenses Worth Tracking Anyway
Even with the federal deduction closed for W-2 income, keep records of every unreimbursed work expense. They matter for state returns, for Schedule C where the expense ties to off-duty work, and as backup if department reimbursement policies change.
Uniforms and Protective Gear
The IRS applies a two-part test to work clothing: required as a condition of employment, and not suitable for everyday wear. A police uniform with badge, patches, and insignia passes both parts. So do body armor, ballistic helmets, duty belts, and tactical boots built for law enforcement. Generic black pants or a plain polo your department requires fail the second part.
Deductible costs include purchase price plus cleaning, alterations, and repairs. Dry-cleaning receipts count. Keep them whether or not you have somewhere to deduct them this year.
Training, Education, and Certifications
Continuing education, advanced certifications, and specialized training your department requires but doesn’t pay for are ordinary and necessary business expenses.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S.C. 162 – Trade or Business Expenses Firearms instructor courses, crisis intervention training, and forensic certifications are typical examples. The training must maintain or improve skills for your current job. Courses that qualify you for a new profession, such as law school, don’t count.
Union Dues and Liability Insurance
Union dues and professional association memberships tied to your work qualify. So do premiums for private professional liability coverage protecting you against personal lawsuits arising from on-duty conduct. Where your department reimburses part of the premium under an accountable plan, the reimbursed portion is tax-free and the remainder is your expense.
Required Medical Exams
Annual physicals, psychological evaluations, and fitness-for-duty exams your employer mandates but you pay for yourself are work expenses, not personal medical expenses. They exist because of the job, which places them in the business-expense category rather than on Schedule A.
Check Reimbursement Before You Think About Deductions
Before anything else, find out whether your department will reimburse the expense. The tax outcome turns on whether the reimbursement arrangement is an accountable plan. IRS regulations require three things: a business connection, substantiation through receipts, and a requirement to return any excess reimbursement within a reasonable time.11Internal Revenue Service. Revenue Ruling 2003-106
When all three are met, the reimbursement never hits your W-2. You get the money tax-free and the expense drops out of your tax picture entirely. If the plan fails any requirement, the reimbursement becomes taxable wages on your W-2, and you have no federal deduction to offset it.
The practical point: if your department offers reimbursement under an accountable plan, use it. Filing the paperwork recovers the full cost tax-free, which beats any deduction that would only return a fraction.
Records That Satisfy the IRS
Whether the deduction lives on a state return or on Schedule C, the documentation standard is the same. Keep records showing the amount, date, place or vendor, and business purpose of each expense.12Internal Revenue Service. Publication 463 (2025), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses A receipt alone isn’t enough if the purpose isn’t obvious from it. Write a note on the receipt or keep a log tying each purchase to the work it supports.
Receipts aren’t required for individual items under $75, except for lodging. Above that, keep the original, a scan, or a credit card statement paired with the vendor receipt.12Internal Revenue Service. Publication 463 (2025), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses A log recorded weekly, close to the time of the expense, meets the IRS standard. Reconstructing a year of purchases the night before a tax appointment does not.
Keep records for at least three years from the date you file the return claiming the deduction.13Internal Revenue Service. How Long Should I Keep Records Hold them longer if your income swings between salary and off-duty work.