What this line means
Amounts your employer reimbursed you that were not included in Box 1 of your W-2. If your employer has an accountable plan and reimbursed you for expenses you substantiated, those reimbursements are tax-free and go here. Only enter reimbursements that are excluded from your W-2 wages.
Does this apply to you?
- Your employer reimbursed part of your business expenses through an accountable plan
- You received reimbursement that does not appear in Box 1 of your W-2
- You need to separate reimbursed and unreimbursed portions of your expenses
- Your employer’s reimbursement covered some but not all of your business expenses
Easy to overlook
Accountable vs. non-accountable plans change everything Under an accountable plan, your employer requires you to substantiate expenses and return any excess reimbursement. Those payments stay off your W-2 and go on line 7. Under a non-accountable plan, the reimbursement is added to your W-2 wages (Box 1) — so you enter zero on line 7 because the reimbursement is already in your income. Confusing the two plans leads to either double-counting income or understating expenses.1 IRS Publication 463 — Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses
Per diem reimbursements that exceed federal rates If your employer pays a per diem for travel but the rate exceeds the federal per diem rate for that location, only the amount up to the federal rate qualifies as an accountable plan reimbursement. The excess goes in your W-2 Box 1. You report only the non-W-2 portion on line 7.2 IRS Form 2106 Instructions — Line 7
Watch out for this
Entering reimbursements that are already in your W-2 wages. If your employer uses a non-accountable plan, the reimbursement shows up in Box 1 of your W-2. Putting that same amount on line 7 subtracts it twice — once as a reimbursement and once as a deduction against inflated wages. Your line 7 entry should only reflect amounts excluded from your W-2.
Footnotes
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IRS Publication 463, Travel, Entertainment, Gift, and Car Expenses, Chapter 6. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p463.pdf ↩
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IRS Form 2106 Instructions. https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i2106 ↩