The overtime deduction for firefighters.

The 24/48 schedule generates built-in FLSA overtime every cycle — before a single callback or trade. The premium half of that overtime is now deductible, and fire service pay structures hid it from most 2025 returns.

By the Master Plan Bookkeeping tax representation practice

IRS-authorized representation practice

Fire suppression schedules are an overtime machine. Under FLSA §207(k), fire departments may use work periods up to 28 days, with overtime required past 212 hours in that window — and a standard 24/48 rotation regularly clears it. Add callbacks, wildfire deployments, and staffing holdovers, and many firefighters earn five figures of overtime wages annually. The premium third of the FLSA-required portion is now deductible, up to $12,500 ($25,000 joint).

The complication mirrors policing but with more moving parts: many departments pay "scheduled overtime" baked into the rotation plus contractual overtime that starts earlier than federal law requires. Only the federally-required premium qualifies. FLSA overtime that's built into your regular paycheck is easy to overlook entirely — plenty of firefighters don't think of it as overtime at all, and their 2025 returns claimed nothing.

Wildland deployments paid through your employer qualify when they generate FLSA overtime. Separate seasonal employment and volunteer stipends follow their own rules. As with all four new deductions, this one runs through 2028 — so the same review that recovers your 2025 refund sets up the next three years.

FLSA Threshold

212 hrs per 28-day work period (§207(k) fire)

Built-In Overtime

24/48 rotations exceed the threshold routinely

What's Deductible

FLSA-required premium — ⅓ of qualifying OT wages

Deduction Cap

$12,500 single · $25,000 joint

Callbacks / Deployments

Qualify when they generate FLSA overtime

Volunteer Stipends

Not eligible (not FLSA overtime wages)

— Worked Example —

A firefighter on a 24/48 rotation at a $30/hour regular rate accrues roughly 30 FLSA overtime hours per 28-day cycle — about 390 a year, $17,550 in time-and-a-half wages. The premium third, $5,850, deducts: roughly $1,287 at the 22% bracket.

Figures above are screening estimates under the 2025 federal rules (P.L. 119-21), not tax advice. A licensed professional confirms actual amounts from your W-2 and filed return before anything is submitted to the IRS. Learn more at the 2025 Refund Checkup.

— Firefighters Questions —

What firefighters actually ask.

Yes — this is the fire-service trap. Scheduled hours past the §207(k) threshold are FLSA overtime even though they're part of your normal rotation and normal paycheck. Firefighters who never think of that pay as "overtime" skipped the deduction entirely on 2025 returns.

Substitutions under the FLSA's trade provisions don't change either firefighter's overtime calculation — the hours count for the scheduled firefighter. Your qualified overtime follows your official schedule and payroll, not the trades.

If the deployment pay ran through your department's payroll and generated FLSA overtime, the premium qualifies. Pay from a separate seasonal employer is analyzed on its own — it can qualify too, against that employer's 40-hour weeks.

The checkup and professional review are free; if you proceed, the 1040-X is a flat quoted fee — no percentage of the refund. Most fire-service amendments are straightforward once the qualified overtime number is established.

— Keep Reading —

Worth checking next.

Overtime · First Responders

The overtime deduction for firefighters.

What firefighters actually ask.

My overtime is built into my regular schedule. Does it still count?

Do shift trades affect the deduction?

I deployed on wildfire assignments last summer. Deductible?

What does amending actually cost me?

Worth checking next.

Overtime Tax Deduction for Police Officers (2025 Rules)

No Tax on Overtime

Overtime Tax Deduction for Oil Field Workers