The IRS will not be happy with you if you deduct commuter miles. Driving to work is considered a normal cost of being an employee. So, while you can be reimbursed by your employer for miles traveled on the job, you can’t deduct the miles it takes you to get to and from work. The exception is if you work two jobs and drive straight from one to the other each day. Keep records and consider using those miles as a deduction.

Clothing is not deductible. Those of us who go from being jeans and T-shirt college students to needing a fancy wardrobe for professional reasons would love to be able to have the IRS reimburse us. However, only a company’s uniform complete with a logo is deductible, not a $5,000 business suit. You may deduct dry-cleaning, however, if it is conducted on a business trip as a travel expense.

A home office and home computer do not qualify as deductible. All of us take work home, but that doesn’t mean you can deduct a portion of your mortgage or the cost of your computer. There is an exception, however, if your company requires you to telecommute and doesn’t reimburse you for the computer.

To qualify for the telecommuting deduction, your employer should write a letter explaining the rules of your work from home and that they apply the same rules to everybody in similar positions within the company. You can then prove to the IRS that your claim is legitimate.

Car interest is not deductible, even if your employer requires you to use your own car all of the time. You can either take the IRS’s allowance for mileage or actual expenses, which includes car interest. The hard part is deciding which will do you more good, the allowance or the actual expenses. However, you must deduct what you are paid for mileage before you take the expenses deduction.

Make sure you don’t miss your office’s reimbursement deadlines because you cannot make up for it with a deduction on your taxes. If your employer has a reimbursement policy with a deadline and you never submit your paperwork, you cannot deduct the expenses later.

The tax deadline, April 15, is just around the corner. I know many of you may be dreading it because of the amounts that you owe. I, however, look forward to the end of tax season because my husband is a CPA. I can’t wait until he’s home with me instead of working hard on taxes.