Electricians are hourly, non-exempt tradespeople who earn real FLSA overtime — and under the 2025 law the premium portion of time-and-a-half is deductible from federal taxable income, up to $12,500 ($12,500 single, $25,000 joint). The deductible amount is the extra "half," not the whole overtime check: work $15,000 of time-and-a-half and the deduction is about $5,000.
The trade's overtime is bursty and large. Construction schedules compress toward deadlines, industrial shutdowns and outages run scheduled overtime for weeks, and storm-restoration and emergency call-outs stack double-digit overtime hours fast. A journeyman at $42/hour who logs 250 overtime hours across a year generates roughly $5,250 in premium — the deductible piece — worth over $1,100 back in the 22% bracket.
W-2 electricians — union or non-union — qualify on their FLSA overtime. Prevailing-wage and Davis-Bacon jobs still turn on the FLSA premium, not the total package. Only hours past 40 in a workweek count; per-diem, travel pay, and tool allowances aren't overtime. Independent 1099 electricians generally have no FLSA overtime and don't qualify. If 2025 missed it, a 1040-X recovers it through 2028.