Temporary Job Location: First Job?

[tpert]

A client of mine's son is taking a teaching position for a year in Maryland since they are looking for teachers and very few such jobs are available in this state. The agreement is for one year although there is the possibility that he may stay on for two, but that would be determined if his work is satisfactory and if he can handle the students.

The trip is approximately 500 miles away from his home. Since this job is expected to last 7-8 months, I think it can be considered temporary.

Is this a situation where he can potentially deduct your cost of lodging, 50% of his meals, and other living expenses incurred in Maryland as miscellaneous itemized deductions on Schedule A?

He will be mainly a student through May of this year even though he has worked part time jobs since he was in high school.

Would the fact that this is his first "real" job exclude him from claiming these expenses?

[FEDUKE404]

New job - not necessarily temporary

A client of mine's son is taking a teaching position for a year in Maryland since they are looking for teachers and very few such jobs are available in this state. The agreement is for one year although there is the possibility that he may stay on for two, but that would be determined if his work is satisfactory and if he can handle the students.

The trip is approximately 500 miles away from his home. Since this job is expected to last 7-8 months, I think it can be considered temporary.

Is this a situation where he can potentially deduct your cost of lodging, 50% of his meals, and other living expenses incurred in Maryland as miscellaneous itemized deductions on Schedule A?

He will be mainly a student through May of this year even though he has worked part time jobs since he was in high school.

Would the fact that this is his first "real" job exclude him from claiming these expenses?

How can he be "taking a teaching position for a year" and yet "job is expected to last 7-8 months"?

This seems like a (first) job scenario.

Also, how would you justify "temporary assigment" when he has no current job in the first place?

Unless I missed something here, you just cannot take a new/perhaps short-term job and then expect the IRS to subsidize your otherwise regular living expenses while working there.

I would expect you to have a very tough road supporting such a position at any audit.

FE

[tpert]

How can he be "taking a teaching position for a year" and yet "job is expected to last 7-8 months"?

This seems like a (first) job scenario.

Also, how would you justify "temporary assigment" when he has no current job in the first place?

Unless I missed something here, you just cannot take a new/perhaps short-term job and then expect the IRS to subsidize your otherwise regular living expenses while working there.

I would expect you to have a very tough road supporting such a position at any audit.

FE

Thank you FE.

From your response, I am interpreting that you are saying that until a taxpayer establishes an occupation and a tax home, a job for a school year (My understanding is the job is until May) would not be considered a temporary assignment (a year or less expected duration). Until my client establishes a tax home, this Maryland job will not be considered a temporary assignment.

So, in a nutshell, by having been a student with part-time jobs, I understand you to be saying that my client has no tax home. I assume that since this is not expected to last more than a year, that Maryland will also not be considered his tax home if he decides to take another job elsewhere afterwards.

Am I understanding this correctly? Does the student need to take a job for more than a year to establish a tax home and must it be full time?

Thanks again.

[taxea]

It would only qualify as a temp location if the employer hired him locally and then sent him to another area to work. School districts are local to their area. The only way I see this working is if a local college was the employer and had locations in different areas. If the employee is assigned to an outer area after being hired perhaps it would qualify but, if he was hired to work there and is on "probationary type status" I say nol.

[okie1tax]

Temporary job location

See this case for a pretty good discussion.

http://www.ustaxcourt.gov/InOpHistoric/yanke.TCM.WPD.pdf

[Gary2]

Also, how would you justify "temporary assigment" when he has no current job in the first place?

The question isn't whether he has a current job, but whether he has a tax home. It is possible to have a tax home without a main place of business or work. See page 3 of Pub. 463. However, I agree that in this case, it seems unlikely.

It also seems unlikely that the job could be considered under a year. First, some school districts pay the salary out over all twelve months. Second, and more important, does the contract really say one year with option for second? Or does it say two years, contingent on satisfactory performance the first year? The latter seems more likely, and is going to create a presumption of a year or more.

[Gary2]

It would only qualify as a temp location if the employer hired him locally and then sent him to another area to work. School districts are local to their area. The only way I see this working is if a local college was the employer and had locations in different areas. If the employee is assigned to an outer area after being hired perhaps it would qualify but, if he was hired to work there and is on "probationary type status" I say nol.

This raises a good issue, but I don't think it's specific to having a local employer. Pub. 463 gives an example of a union employee who takes a temporary job out of the area. While it's vague as to whether or not the local union helped him get the job, it's pretty clear that the employer was not local. But it's normal for construction workers to have multiple employers like that.

Now consider a school teacher in the south, who takes a summer school job at a school up north, without housing or food. Suppose it's regular, i.e., the same regular job down south, the same summer job up north. Does that qualify as a temporary assignment? I think so - because I can't find anything that says the temporary assignment has to be with the same employer. But I'm open to other opinions.

[Nashville]

Tax Home Confusion

I agree with Gary2 because over and over again, I have seen confusion about the concept of a "tax home." The misconception is worse when you are talking to a parent who considers "home" to be the house (s)he grew up in.

But I disagree with Gary in mapping the situation with the length of a teaching contract. In almost all cases, a teacher is never offerred anything other than a one year contract. However, just because a contract lasts only one year doesn't mean that the intention of the parties is only "temporary." Most Board of Education practice forbids the engagement of a contract over one year in length. This is in spite of the fact that you hear about multi-year and multi-million dollar contracts extended to college atheltic coaches. Those situations are in another environment entirely and have more to do with entertainment than education.

[ChEAr$]

I'm thinking that perhaps teachers' associations have been putting out information to members all over this country now.

A client graduated from college, got her first job in another county and was told (by another teacher) that she could deduct her round trip mileage of about 90 miles a day, presumably, although not told to me, because she was away from "home".

My usual explanation of what constitutes a "tax home", is simply "the place where you earn your bread.\"

[Gary2]

In almost all cases, a teacher is never offerred anything other than a one year contract.

I'll have to check with my one teacher friend. I may have misinterpreted his situation.

It is common, at least around here, for school districts to announce layoffs prematurely in the spring. The reason is that towns and school districts rarely have their budgets finalized before mid to late May, but the union contracts require layoff notices earlier than that. Thus the school districts issue the notices to protect themselves. I've always interpreted that as implying that there's some general, contractual obligation to continue employing teachers barring problems with the teacher's performance or general staff reductions. So while teachers don't have a guarantee of employment beyond the current year - in the sense that they can't sue for breech of contract if it's a bona fide reduction in staff and the proper forms followed - they do have an expectation of continued employment, at least for the purposes of applying the IRS temporary assignment rules.

[tpert]

I would like to thank those of you who answered thoughtfully without thinking I am trying to do something illegal.

Here is what I have found. I am interested in any comments.

From my reading...

1. A temporary assignment is one which is expected to last a year or less.

2. At the point in time when the duration is expected to last more than a year, it ceases to become a temporary assignment (presumably, if this person is offered and decides to accept the second year).

3. A taxpayer would seem to have to establish a tax home in order to have a temporary assignment.

4. It appears that working in a location for more than a year would establish that location as a tax home.

For my client, regardless of what is common anywhere else, the contract is for only a single year and he does not know if he will like Maryland nor the school nor the students and he does not know if he will get a job closer to home.

My client has worked near his home on a part-time basis for over a year, but I am not sure if part-time work for more than a year is enough to establish a tax home. While he has had several jobs, he has been in one of them for two years. I do not think part-time jobs would fulfill the criteria for establishing a tax home (though I have no reference). However, I do not think this is even relevant in this situation (see below).

I think the failure here is that the temporary assignment must be in the same line of work. His part-time jobs have been in the retail industry (although he also does some tutoring for free as part of his commitment to the school where he is student teaching). I do not think the student teaching nor tutoring count since neither is paid and neither lasted more than a year. Thus his tax home for teaching is not yet established. Does this make sense?

Thus, I believe that this student may be allowed moving expenses but no temporary assignment expenses.

However, the complication here is mentioned in some of the other posts. I think the estimate I got of the months was wrong. I got it from the father who told me "Teachers only work about 8 months of the year for a year of pay." I believe it is in the 9-10 month range despite breaks and holidays. However, an employee you must work full time in the general area of your new workplace for at least 39 weeks during the 12 months right after you move. Does this mean that if the school year is 38 weeks but he is paid for 12 months that he meets this requirement? I think not. I believe that only the actual weeks working plus paid holidays would constitute the period working full time. I think he is required to report a week before and stay a week later than the students, so that the 39 week rule should be easy to meet.

Someone told me that moving expenses are only allowed if the new job is expected to last more than a year. Does anyone know if that is true? I cannot find it. Also, another friend told me that you can't take this for a first job, but I cannot find it and I think that may have been a rule quite a few years ago.

Thanks again.

[Kram BergGold]

Moving ok

You have to work full time for your profession. Vacation weeks like at Christmas count as weeks worked. So if he works the entire school year I would take the moving. I agree temporay is NG as he is not working in an already established profession.

[Gary2]

1. A temporary assignment is one which is expected to last a year or less.

Agreed

2. At the point in time when the duration is expected to last more than a year, it ceases to become a temporary assignment (presumably, if this person is offered and decides to accept the second year).

Disagree. If it's indefinite, then it's not a temporary assignment. "Indefinite" doesn't mean expected to last more than a year. It means "not reasonably expected to last a year or less" - which could mean either expected to last longer or uncertainty as to whether it will last a year or less.

3. A taxpayer would seem to have to establish a tax home in order to have a temporary assignment.

4. It appears that working in a location for more than a year would establish that location as a tax home.

Agreed

I think the failure here is that the temporary assignment must be in the same line of work. His part-time jobs have been in the retail industry (although he also does some tutoring for free as part of his commitment to the school where he is student teaching). I do not think the student teaching nor tutoring count since neither is paid and neither lasted more than a year. Thus his tax home for teaching is not yet established. Does this make sense?

Is there anything that says the temporary assignment must be in the same line of work?

[Gary2]

But I disagree with Gary in mapping the situation with the length of a teaching contract. In almost all cases, a teacher is never offerred anything other than a one year contract.

I'll have to check with my one teacher friend. I may have misinterpreted his situation.

I finally touched base with my teacher friend, and I stand corrected. His contracts have always been for one year, notwithstanding the mandatory late winter notification of non-renewal.

Which is not to say that the IRS would consider the contract length to be a conclusive factor for the "realistically expected to last 1 year or less" test, if the circumstances indicated that only significant misconduct or incompetence would trigger non-renewal.

[taxea]

This raises a good issue, but I don't think it's specific to having a local employer. Pub. 463 gives an example of a union employee who takes a temporary job out of the area. While it's vague as to whether or not the local union helped him get the job, it's pretty clear that the employer was not local. But it's normal for construction workers to have multiple employers like that.

Now consider a school teacher in the south, who takes a summer school job at a school up north, without housing or food. Suppose it's regular, i.e., the same regular job down south, the same summer job up north. Does that qualify as a temporary assignment? I think so - because I can't find anything that says the temporary assignment has to be with the same employer. But I'm open to other opinions.

In the first example perhaps the Union is the one that sends the workers to various locations and the IRS accepts the union as the "employer".

In the second example my arguement is: if the teacher independently goes north for a summer job I don't see how it qualifies as a temporary assignment because she wasn't assigned there by an existing employer...she chose to take the job on her own. To me it would be a second job not a temp assignment. She may be doing the same work but this would be the same as anyone else who takes a second job doing the same work.

To be assigned to a location is different than to be hired independently by a different employer. To me, to be assigned to a temp location it stands to reason that the worker has to have a "usual" workplace and then is temporiarily assigned to a different location. How would you get assigned to a temporary location is your employer is not sending you there? If it is with the same school district then maybe it could be argued as a temp location. If the W-2 is not issued by the same issuer for both locations then I still think it is a second job.