Tax Tips for a Job-Related Move

The Internal Revenue Service has provided ten tax tips on expenses accrued during the course of moving to a new job.

The agency lists several expenses that can possibly be deducted on your tax return.

1. If you are moving to work at a new location, you can report moving expenses you incurred within one year of the date you reported to the job.

2. Your move meets the distance test if your new job locale is at least 50 miles farther from your former home than your previous main job location was from your former home. In other words, if your old job location was three miles from your former home, your new place of work must be at least 53 miles from that former place of occupancy.

3. Once you begin your new job, you must work full-time for at least 39 weeks during the first year. Self-employed individuals must also meet this test, working full-time for at least 78 weeks during the first 24 months of arriving at the location of the new job.

If your income tax return is due before you can fulfill this requirement, you can still deduct your allowable moving expenses if you expect to meet the time test.

4. You can deduct lodging expenses – but not meals – for yourself and household members while moving from your former home to your new one. Transportation expenses, such as airfare, vehicle mileage, parking fees and tolls, are also deductable. But you can only deduct one trip per person.

5. It is possible to deduct the cost of packing, crating and transporting your household items and personal property, including the shipping of pets. In addition, you can deduct the cost of storing and insuring these items.

6. You can deduct the cost of connecting or disconnecting utilities.

7. Moving expenses that cannot be deducted include any part of the purchase price of your new home, car tags, drivers license renewal, costs involved in the buying or selling of a home, money owed due to the breaking of a lease, security deposits or storage charges.

8. You can only deduct expenses that are reasonable for the circumstance of your move. To figure the amount of your deduction for moving expenses, use Form 3903, Moving Expenses.

9. If your employer reimburses you for the costs of a move for which you took a deduction, the reimbursement will have to be included as income on your tax return.

10. When you move, be sure to update your address with the IRS and the U.S. Postal Service. More details are available on the IRS’s website.