Can You Deduct Moving Expenses on your Taxes?
Did you move some time in the last year? If the answer is yes, then it’s time to take a hard look at your moving expenses before you submit your taxes this year, because there’s a chance that some of them may be deductible. So how do you know if you can deduct moving expenses on your taxes? Here are a few guidelines.
Can you deduct the cost of your movers?
General Guidelines
In order to deduct moving expenses, the move should be because of a job. The IRS mandates certain time and location guidelines be met in order to deduct moving expenses. If you took a job that required you to move in order to be closer to work, the move needs to have happened around the same time you started the job, and needs to be closer to the new job than your old home.
Distance Guidelines
The IRS distance guidelines require that your new job be at least 50 miles further from your old home than your old job in order to warrant a move for work.
Timing Guidelines
The time guidelines require that you work full-time “for at least 39 weeks during the first 12 months immediately following your arrival in the general area of your new job location,” according to the IRS website. There are special exceptions for self-employed people, as well as extenuating circumstances involving involuntary separation, death, disability, and other major life events, which are explained in more depth here.
Military Exception
Members of the military who were required to move during the previous tax year do not have to meet the time and distance guidelines.
