Moving Expenses

Deductibility Tests

Moving expenses may be deductible on Form 1040 if a taxpayer moves to a new home because of a new principal workplace. The following tests must be met.

Closely Related to the Start of Work Test

The move will be considered closely related to a new work location if the move is within one year of the date the taxpayer started working at the new location, and the distance from the new home to the new job location is not more than the distance from the old home to the new job location.

Click and Read Moving Expenses Here

Distance Test

The new principal workplace must be at least 50 miles farther from the taxpayer’s old home than the old workplace was. For example, if the old workplace was three miles from the old home, the new workplace must be at least 53 miles from the old home. If the taxpayer did not have an old workplace, the new workplace must be at least 50 miles from the old home. Members of the Armed Forces do not have to meet this distance test.

Time Test

Employees must work full time in the general area of the new workplace for at least 39 weeks during the 12 months after the move. Self-employed taxpayers must work full time in the general area of the new workplace for at least 39 weeks during the first 12 months and 78 weeks during the first 24 months after the move.

Exceptions: The time test does not apply if the job ends because of disability, the employer transfers the employee, the employee was laid off for other than willful
misconduct, the taxpayer is a member of the Armed Forces, the taxpayer meets certain requirements for retirees or survivors living outside the U.S., or the taxpayer is a decedent.
Although the move must be closely related to the start of work in a new location, there is no requirement that a new job be in the same line of work as the old job. A taxpayer
starting work for the first time qualifies.

Click and Read Moving Expenses Here

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