job search expenses

[POCAHONTAS]

If you had to fly to another state for an interview in the same field of work and had to stay in a motel, are motel expenses deductible???

thanks

[POCAHONTAS]

Even if you cannot deduct the travel expenses to and from an area, you can deduct the expenses of looking for a new job in your present occupation while in the area. pub 529 page 5

[taxea]

yes you can deduct the travel. taxea

[rgtaxservice]

....

I would think it depend on the duration of the trip. If it was just an overnight ordeal I see no problem with it. However, a flight to Florida for a week's stay for a two hour job interview would warrant a raised brow.

[taxea]

rg that would come under the employee business expense travel rule...part personal, part business.
Just another thought...if the client stayed a week in order to interview at various companies it would be covered. taxea

[POCAHONTAS]

so now the client wants to deduct his suitcase, his laptop, his blue tooth, he says that they were ordinary and necessary for him to look for his job, oh of course his internet service too. So far I have told him that he can only take the cost of his resume as stated in pub 529.

"Resume:- You can deduct amounts you spend for preparing and mailing copies of a resume to prospective employers."

client argues that he had to buy the laptop the printer to prepare his resume and print, and he also needed his internet service to search for a job.

[rgtaxservice]

....

client argues that he had to buy the laptop the printer to prepare his resume and print, and he also needed his internet service to search for a job.

Tell the client that he should have returned the laptop and printer, and cancelled his internet service right after the interview since he would no longer be needing them. Inform him that if he had rented those items instead, the two day rental would have been deductible.
To add authority to your already powerful position, cite the case that makes it so: Pig vs Hog

[rgtaxservice]

....

Just an afterthought. Does the client even itemize? Will those 2% expenses even come into play?

[taxea]

the electronic tools are definate out...they are not ordinary and necessary...client could have had a resume company do his resume..that would have been deductible. The other items are deductible only if:
1. they are required by his employer via a letterhead
2. client is self-employed and the items are o and r to his line of business taxea