Can I deduct my travel expenses when I carry 100 pounds of tools to work?

Q: My employer requires me to carry his tools with me to and from work. Often I do not know the job site location until the day before. I travel to all parts of the Greater Boston area and beyond. Can I deduct my commute mileage/expenses due to the fact that I am carrying over 100 pounds of tools I do not own? - Paul, Norton

The following answer was provided by Wesley Rickard CPA, Quin, Rickard, Lipshires, & Grupp LLP, Norwood.

A: This issue has always been contested by the IRS. The deciding factor is not really dependent on the requirement of you transporting your employer's tools. The IRS will allow daily transportation expenses between a taxpayer's residence and a temporary work location in only three circumstances:

1) The taxpayer goes to a temporary work site outside the metro area where the taxpayer lives and usually works.
2) The taxpayer goes to any temporary work site and has, in the same trade or business, at least one regular place of business other than the taxpayer's residence.
3) The taxpayer goes to any other work site, temporary or regular, in the same trade or business for which the taxpayer's residence is the principal place of business.

If your employer has a regular place of business that you can go to your travel/commute should be deductible under 2 above. Otherwise your travel would only be deductible under 1 above for outside the metro area. If your employer has no regular place of business I don't think you could qualify your home as your principal place of business as an employee under 3 above. That is a more complicated decision to discuss and decide.