During the pandemic, pajamas, sweatpants and comfy clothes were the staple work outfits for employees who could work from home and had little reason to dress up. But now it’s a thing of the past, and business clothes are back in fashion. Even if you're self-employed as a freelancer or gig worker, you still need work clothes for your business. Purchasing them comes with a cost, even if they’re work clothes from a second-hand shop. When you’re self-employed, you’re eligible to take deductions to help lower your tax bill. But what about work clothes? Can you write off work clothes as a business expense from self-employment taxes? Can influencers write off clothes? Here, we’ll answer these pressing questions and everything you need to know about work clothing deductions.

Table of contents

Key takeaways...Read more

Who can deduct work clothes? ...Read more

Work uniforms...Read more

Safety gear...Read more

Costumes...Read more

Makeup and cosmetics...Read more

Can influencers write off clothes? ...Read more

Is dry cleaning tax deductible? ...Read more

Claiming the clothing tax deduction ...Read more

Can real estate agents write off clothing?...Read more

Key takeaways

You need to be self-employed to be eligible for the work clothes deduction.
The clothes have to be something that’s not considered everyday wear and can’t be worn outside the work environment.
Certain business clothes qualify, such as medical scrubs, costumes and safety gear, but it depends on your profession.

Who can deduct work clothes?

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) allows certain individuals to write off work clothes as a business expense. You’ll need to be self-employed to qualify, so if you consider yourself a sole proprietor, freelancer or gig worker, you fit this criteria. But not all business clothes are eligible for a deduction. In fact, most clothes don’t even qualify. Only clothing that’s a requirement from your employer and that can’t be worn outside work qualifies as a work clothes deduction. A tax deduction calculator can help you check if your clothes can be counted as a write-off.

Infographic entitled Deducting Work Clothes listing the types of clothes counted as a work clothes tax deductible.

The IRS considers clothes that are everyday wear as nondeductible. This means your prom dress, wedding gown, Halloween costume or any other special occasion outfit is disqualified from becoming a deduction. If you have to wear overalls for your construction job or a black shirt and pants for the restaurant where you work, they don’t qualify. If your employer requires a certain color or style of shirt, pants or shoes, that won’t cut it either. Items that are not eligible for the work clothing tax deduction include:

Suits and ties
Loungewear
Athletic clothing
Swim attire
Pajamas
Jeans, slacks and trousers
Dresses and skirts
Sweaters & sweatshirts
High heels, sandals, sneakers, flip flops
T-shirts
Stockings, socks and slippers

If you work as a teacher, banker, sales associate or engineer, for example, you need to wear professional clothing at work. The clothes you wear can also be worn outside of your workplace and wouldn’t count as a deduction. So now we know a lot of work clothing doesn’t qualify for a deduction. But, the IRS does make an exception for three types of clothing: work uniforms, costumes and safety gear.

Work uniforms

You’ve probably been wondering, are work uniforms tax deductible? Yes, they are for self-employed people. This will change in 2024, when employees can take a uniform for work tax deduction, but not until then, thanks to the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). You’ll need a special uniform if you work as a firefighter for your local fire department, for example. The cost of purchasing, renting, repairing or getting the uniform dry-cleaned is tax deductible. Or, if you work as a delivery driver for Instacart, you’ll probably need a special uniform with the company’s logo. Again, the cost of your uniform counts as a write-off. The logo holds great power in whether or not the clothing can be written off as work clothes. Examples of work clothes for the uniform tax deduction:

Medical scrubs
Firefighter gear
Police uniform
Military gear
Flight attendant uniform
Lab coats
Judge attire
Suits for traffic employees

So, in some circumstances, you can take the work clothes write-off if you need your uniform for your job and it’s worn specifically when you’re on duty.

Safety gear

Some protective gear qualifies as business clothes, such as medical scrubs, facemasks, reflective vests, gloves and safety goggles. The profession on your tax return needs to match the type of work requiring this sort of safety gear. Someone who likes to do science experiments in their garage can’t deduct their safety goggles or lab coat since they’re being used for leisure purposes. If you work as a bricklayer on a construction site, your hard hat, safety gloves and reflective vest would qualify since your profession matches the required safety equipment. Or, if you are a carpenter, you can deduct your safety goggles and gloves. Professions that can typically deduct safety gear as a clothes tax deduction include:

Electricians
Bricklayers
Cement workers
Chemical workers
Machinists
Carpenters
Masons
Linemen
Roadwork crew

Costumes

Musicians and those in the entertainment industry can deduct their costumes and accessories as work clothing as long as they can’t be worn as everyday clothing. But this can be a gray area for many when a CPA or auditor takes a look at a tax return. Some performance clothes and costumes are deemed to be ordinary wear in the eyes of the IRS and are therefore not eligible for a deduction. If you work a seasonal job, like Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny, and are required to purchase the costume, you can write off the cost since you can’t wear the costume outside of the job. It would look pretty funny to see someone buying their groceries or cutting their lawn in this sort of costume!

Makeup and cosmetics

Although it’s important to keep up your appearance when working as a professional, you can’t deduct the cost of getting a haircut, a manicure, a pedicure or makeup. This is because the IRS considers these as personal expenses and are not eligible as a write-off. Professions that wear costumes include:

Performers
Actors/Actresses
Social media influencers
Mascots
Seasonal holiday workers

If you use makeup or cosmetics exclusively for work, like if you have your own entertainment or theater gig, then you’re eligible for the deduction. As a self-employed makeup artist, makeup is required for your business, and you can write this off as a business expense. Or, if you own your own salon and need to purchase makeup and hair and nail products, those are deductible as business expenses.

Can influencers write off clothes?

This is where things get a bit tricky. You can write off your makeup costs if you’re a makeup artist on social media. But any clothes you need as part of your gig aren’t deductible. Some other IRS red flags include getting your nails done or a haircut and claiming it as a work clothes business expense. You can try to convince the IRS that you need them, but any full-time employee could have the same argument, and an IRS auditor probably won’t buy it.

Is dry cleaning tax deductible?

Any tax-deductible clothing is eligible for a dry cleaning deduction. Also, if you’re traveling on a business trip, you’ll need clean clothes for your client meeting or conference. Luckily, dry cleaning is considered a business expense since clean clothes are necessary for your work. You can also write off the cost of clothing repairs, like sewing, hemming or getting a new button.

Claiming the clothing tax deduction

When claiming work clothing, you’ll need to include the costs as itemized deductions on your tax return. Itemized deductions are subtracted from your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI), lowering your tax bill when you pay estimated taxes.

Infographic entitled How To Claim Business Clothes listing the steps for taking the work clothes tax deduction.

If itemizing your deductions is the best option to save on taxes, you’ll need to gather all your receipts, invoices and statements to calculate how much you’ve spent overall. Or, if using FlyFin, all of this information is available with the click of a button, and you don’t even have to search for a single receipt! Schedule A is the IRS tax form used when itemizing deductions and is attached to Form 1040. You’ll need to list your deductible expenses on Schedule A, including:

Paid interest
Paid taxes
Charity donations
Dental and medical expenses
Theft losses
Other itemized expenses include items like work clothes, vehicle-related expenses, education and home-office expenses.

Some itemized expenses can’t be reported on Schedule A and need to be reported on a separate tax form.

Infographic entitled Items that Can’t Be Claimed on Schedule A listing the items not included on Schedule A for self-employment taxes.

Let’s face it – there are a lot of IRS tax forms. So it's always best to consult a tax expert to help with the various forms.

Can real estate agents write off clothing?

If you work as a real estate agent or broker, you might be able to deduct the cost of your business clothes if they have a company logo. A regular business suit or dress would not count as a uniform tax deduction since you can wear the outfit outside your real estate work environment. If your clothes do qualify for a deduction, you can also write off any dry cleaning expenses, too. FlyFin's A.I. can help self-employed individuals find business deductions just by scanning their expenses. CPAs also offer unlimited tax preparation and filing support on the app.

Phone Tax Deduction

Cell phones can be a business tax deduction for self-employed individuals if it is an ordinary and necessary expense. A separate business cell phone can be fully written off.

Quarterly Tax Calculator

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