W-2 Employee Tax Checklist

Gather a W-2 from every employer. If the total Social Security wages across all W-2s exceed the annual wage base, you may be eligible for a credit for excess Social Security tax withheld on your federal return.

Gather support for property taxes, mortgage interest, charitable gifts, medical expenses, and other potentially deductible items, then compute both federal methods under the rules for the year. For TY2026, itemized charitable contributions are subject to the new 0.5%-of-contribution-base floor, while eligible nonitemizers may claim a separate cash-charitable deduction of up to $1,000 ($2,000 MFJ); those rules mean the answer is not a simple comparison of gross receipt totals. The TY2026 standard deduction is $16,100 Single/MFS, $24,150 HoH, and $32,200 MFJ. New Jersey has no standard deduction.

ANCHOR (Affordable New Jersey Communities for Homeowners and Renters) provides property tax relief for NJ residents. For the 2025 benefit cycle, eligibility generally requires that you were a New Jersey resident who owned and occupied a home, or rented and occupied a residence, as your principal residence on October 1, 2025; that the property was subject to local property tax; and that your 2025 gross income was not more than $250,000 for a homeowner or $150,000 for a renter. The 2025-cycle application deadline is November 2, 2026. Check the NJ Division of Taxation website for the current income limits, property conditions, and application method, since each cycle is announced separately.

Generally no. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act suspended the miscellaneous itemized deduction for employee business expenses starting in 2018, and the OBBBA (Section 70110) made that disallowance permanent, redesignating it as IRC Section 67(h). Most W-2 employees therefore cannot deduct home office costs. Narrow exceptions exist: a statutory employee (Form W-2 box 13 checked) reports on Schedule C and may claim qualifying home-office expenses under Section 280A, and certain other employees (for example, Armed Forces reservists, qualified performing artists, and fee-basis state or local government officials) follow separate Form 2106 rules.