Are impairment-related work expenses deductible?

What counts as impairment-related

Most unreimbursed employee expenses stopped being deductible for tax years beginning after 2017, because the miscellaneous itemized deductions subject to the 2% floor were suspended. Publication 463 (2025) keeps a short list of employees who still use Form 2106, and disabled employees with impairment-related work expenses are one of the four groups on it. The publication defines the expenses as your allowable expenses for attendant care at your workplace and other expenses in connection with your workplace that are necessary for you to be able to work. It does not give a master list of items, which is why the two examples it prints carry so much weight.

Who is “disabled” for this rule

The publication gives two ways to qualify. The first is a physical or mental disability, with blindness and deafness as its examples, that functionally limits your being employed. The second is a physical or mental impairment, such as a sight or hearing impairment, that substantially limits one or more major life activities, and it lists performing manual tasks, walking, speaking, breathing, learning and working. You do not need a particular diagnosis, but you should be ready to explain how the condition limits your work, because the deduction depends on the facts.

The three tests for each expense

An impairment-related expense is deductible as a business expense only if it is, first, necessary for you to do your work satisfactorily. Second, it must be for goods and services that are not required or used, other than incidentally, in your personal activities. Third, it must not be specifically covered under other income tax laws, which means you cannot claim the same cost twice under a different rule. The second test is where most disputes begin. An item that you also rely on at home, on weekends or for hobbies is not clean, and the checkbox in the calculator above treats that as a failure on purpose.

The two examples the publication gives

A blind employee who must use a reader to do the job, and uses the reader both during working hours at the workplace and outside regular hours away from it, can deduct the reader’s cost because the reader’s services are only for work. A deaf employee who must use a sign language interpreter during meetings at work can deduct the interpreter’s cost when the interpreter’s services are used only for work. In both cases the point is the same: the purpose is the job, even when some of the service happens outside regular hours.

How the deduction is reported

You complete Form 2106, then enter your impairment-related work expenses from line 10 of that form on Schedule A (Form 1040), line 16, and identify the type and amount of the expense on the line next to line 16. The publication says these expenses are not subject to the 2%-of-adjusted-gross-income limit that applies to most other employee business expenses. Because the figure lands on Schedule A, it is an itemized deduction, so it only helps if your itemized deductions exceed your standard deduction; our standard vs itemized calculator shows that comparison. If you are self-employed instead, the publication says to report on Schedule C and not to file Form 2106.

Reimbursements reduce the deduction

Only the unreimbursed part is deductible. If your employer pays for a screen reader or covers part of an interpreter’s fee, that reimbursement comes off the expense before you claim anything. The publication also warns that if you are entitled to a reimbursement from your employer and do not claim it, you cannot deduct the expense that reimbursement would have covered. In practice that means asking about accommodations first.

Worked example

Suppose an employee who is deaf pays $3,000 during the year for interpreter services used only at work, and the employer reimburses $500. The unreimbursed amount is $2,500. On Form 2106 the employee shows the $3,000 of expenses and the $500 reimbursement, carries the $2,500 from line 10 to Schedule A, line 16, and describes it as interpreter services. The figures are our illustration, not the publication’s; the method follows the publication. If the same interpreter also attended the employee’s personal appointments, the second test would fail for the shared part, and the deduction would need to be limited to what is used only incidentally for personal matters.

Where this fits with the other Form 2106 groups

The other three groups that may still use Form 2106 are Armed Forces reservists, qualified performing artists and fee-basis state or local government officials. Reservists, artists and fee-basis officials deduct as an adjustment to income on Schedule 1, line 12, while impairment-related expenses are the one group that goes on Schedule A. For the general rule on everyone else, see can employees deduct unreimbursed travel expenses.

Sources

• IRS Publication 463, Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses (2025): Chapter 6, Special Rules, Impairment-Related Work Expenses of Disabled Employees; Introduction; chapter 6, Where To Report. Read November 2, 2026.

Edition read: Publication 463 (2025), for use in preparing 2025 returns. Rates and dollar limits on this page are the 2025 figures printed in that edition; check the current publication, form instructions and GSA.gov per diem tables for your tax year. This page summarizes the publication and does not replace it.