OMB No. 1545-1441 2106-EZ Unreimbursed Employee Business Expenses Form

Department of the Treasury

Internal Revenue Service  Attach to Form 1040.

Attachment

Sequence No. 54A

Your name Occupation in which you incurred expenses Social security number

1

Vehicle expense using the standard mileage rate. Complete Part II and multiply line 8a by 37.5¢

(.375)

1

2

Parking fees, tolls, and transportation, including train, bus, etc., that did not involve overnight

travel or commuting to and from work

2

Travel expense while away from home overnight, including lodging, airplane, car rental, etc.

Do not include meals and entertainment

3

3

4 Business expenses not included on lines 1 through 3. Do not include meals and entertainment 4

5

Meals and entertainment expenses: $ × 50% (.50) (Employees subject to

Department of Transportation (DOT) hours of service limits: Multiply meal expenses incurred

while away from home on business by 70% (.70) instead of 50%. For details, see instructions.)

5

Total expenses. Add lines 1 through 5. Enter here and on line 20 of Schedule A (Form 1040).

(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

6

Cat. No. 20604Q Form 2106-EZ (2004)

Part I

Part II

Figure Your Expenses

You May 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 does not have to be required to be considered necessary.

● If you are claiming vehicle expense, you are using the standard mileage rate for 2004.

● You do not get reimbursed by your employer for any expenses (amounts your employer included in box 1 of your Form W-2 are

not considered reimbursements).

Information on Your Vehicle. Complete this part only if you are claiming vehicle expense on line 1.

7

8

a

9

10

11a

b

When did you place your vehicle in service for business use? (month, day, year)  / /

Of the total number of miles you drove your vehicle during 2004, enter the number of miles you used your vehicle for:

Do you (or your spouse) have another vehicle available for personal use?

Was your vehicle available for personal use during off-duty hours?

Do you have evidence to support your deduction?

If “Yes,” is the evidence written?

Business

Yes No

b Commuting c Other

Yes No

Yes No

Yes No

(99)

For Paperwork Reduction Act Notice, see page 4.

Caution: You can use the standard mileage rate for 2004 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.

2004
Form 2106-EZ (2004) Page 3

Do not 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. Employees cannot deduct car loan

interest.

Note. If line 4 is your only entry, do not

complete Form 2106-EZ unless you are

claiming:

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 Department of

Transportation (DOT) hours of service

limits, that percentage is increased to

70% for business meals consumed

during, or incident to, any period of duty

for which those limits are in effect.

● 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 for

definitions. If you are not required to file

Form 2106-EZ, enter your expenses

directly on Schedule A (Form 1040), line

20.

Instead of actual cost, you may be

able to claim the standard meal

allowance for your daily meals and

incidental expenses while away from

your tax home overnight. Under this

method, you deduct a specified amount,

depending on where you travel, instead

of keeping records of your actual meal

expenses. However, you must still keep

records to prove the time, place, and

business purpose of your travel.

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.

You may be able to take a

credit for your educational

expenses instead of a

deduction. See Form 8863,

Education Credits (Hope and Lifetime

Learning Credits), for details.

The standard meal allowance is the

federal M&IE rate. For most small

localities in the United States, this rate is

$31 a day. Most major cities and many

other localities in the United States qualify

for higher rates. You can find these rates

on the Internet at www.gsa.gov.

Instructions for

Form 2106-EZ

Section references are to the Internal

Revenue Code.

Purpose of Form

You may 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.

What’s New

Standard mileage rate. The standard

mileage rate is 37.5 cents for each mile

of business use in 2004.

Recordkeeping

You cannot 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 cannot deduct

expenses for travel away from your tax

home for any period of temporary

employment of more than 1 year. Do not

include expenses for meals and

entertainment. For more details,

including limits, see Pub. 463.

Tax home. Generally, your tax home

is your main place of business or post of

duty regardless of where you maintain

your family home. If you do not have a

regular or main place of business

because of the nature of your work, then

your tax home is the place where you

regularly live. If you do not 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 cannot claim a

travel expense deduction. For more

details on your tax home, see Pub. 463.

Instead of keeping records of your

actual incidental expenses, you can use

an optional method for deducting

incidental expenses only if you did not

pay or incur meal expenses on a day

you were traveling away from your tax

home. The amount of the deduction is

$3 a day. Incidental expenses include

fees and tips given to porters, baggage

carriers, bellhops, hotel maids, stewards

or stewardesses and others on

ships,and hotel servants in foreign

countries. They do not include expenses

for laundry, cleaning and pressing of

clothing, lodging taxes, or the costs of

telegrams or telephone calls. You cannot

use this method on any day that you use

the standard meal allowance (as

explained in the instructions for line 5).

Line 4. Enter other job-related expenses

not listed on any other line of this form.

Include expenses for business gifts,

education (tuition and books), home

office, trade publications, etc. For

details, including limits, see Pub. 463

and Pub. 529. Do not include on line 4

any tuition and fees you deducted on

Form 1040, line 27. 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 on a cellular telephone or

other similar telecommunications

equipment, a home computer, etc., see

Form 4562, Depreciation and

amortization, to figure the depreciation

and section 179 deduction to enter on

line 4.

● Certain travel expenses for performing

your job as a member of a reserve

component of the Armed Forces,

See Pub. 463 for details on how to

figure your deduction using the standard

meal allowance, including special rules

for partial days of travel, transportation

workers, and taxpayers related to their

employer.

TIP

For locations outside the continental

United States, the applicable rates are

published each month. You can find these

rates on the Internet at www.state.gov.

Line 6. If you were an Armed Forces

reservist (member of a reserve

component—defined on page 4), enter

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.
Form 2106-EZ (2004) Page 4

If you were an individual with a

disability and are claiming

impairment-related work expenses

(defined below), enter the part of the line

6 amount attributable to those expenses

on Schedule A (Form 1040), line 27,

instead of on Schedule A (Form 1040),

line 20. Your impairment-related work

expenses are not subject to the 2% limit

that applies to most other employee

business 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.

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. 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. Do not include commuting

miles on this line; commuting miles are

not considered business miles. See

below for the definition of commuting.

Line 8b. If you do not 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.

Generally, commuting is travel

between your home and a work location.

However, travel that meets any of the

following conditions is not commuting.

2. The travel is to a temporary work

location outside the metropolitan area

where you live and normally work.

3. 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.

1. 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.

2. Received from at least two of those

employers wages of $200 or more per

employer,

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.

Paperwork Reduction Act Notice. We

ask for the information on this form to

carry out the Internal Revenue laws of

the United States. You are required to

give us the information. We need it to

ensure that you are complying with

these laws and to allow us to figure and

collect the right amount of tax.

The time needed to complete and file

this form will vary depending on

individual circumstances. The estimated

average time is: Recordkeeping, 39

min.; Learning about the law or the

form, 12 min.; Preparing the form, 24

min.; Copying, assembling, and

sending the form to the IRS, 20 min.

You are not required to provide the

information requested on a form that is

subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act

unless the form displays a valid OMB

control number. Books or records

relating to a form or its instructions must

be retained as long as their contents

may become material in the

administration of any Internal Revenue

law. Generally, tax returns and return

information are confidential, as required

by section 6103.

If you have comments concerning the

accuracy of these time estimates or

suggestions for making this form

simpler, we would be happy to hear

from you. See the Instructions for Form

1040.

If you were a qualified performing

artist (defined below), enter the part of

the line 6 amount attributable to

performing-arts-related expenses on

Form 1040, line 24, and attach Form

2106-EZ to your return. Your

performing-arts-related business

expenses are deductible whether or not

you itemize deductions. The expenses

are not subject to the 2% limit that

applies to most other employee

business expenses.

A qualified performing artist is an

individual who:

1. Performed services in the

performing arts as an employee for at

least two employers during the tax year,

If you were a fee-basis state or local

government official (defined below),

enter 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. Your

employee business expenses are

deductible whether or not you itemize

deductions. A fee-basis state or local

government official is an official who is

an employee of a state or political

subdivision of a state and is

compensated, in whole or in part, on a

fee basis.

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,

Naval, 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.

Additional information. See Pub. 463

for additional details on how to report

these expenses.

To be treated as a qualified

performing artist, a married individual

must also file a joint return, unless the

individual and his or her spouse lived

apart for all of 2004. On a joint return,

requirements (1), (2), and (3) must be

figured separately for each spouse.

However, requirement (4) applies to the

combined adjusted gross income of

both spouses.