Deductibility of Job Search Expenses

written on July 13, 2009 by William Riccio

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Are the expenses associated with your job search deductable?  In the recently released Internal Revenue Service Summertime Tax Tip 2009-01 titled Tax Benefits for Job Seekers the IRS tries to provide some guidance to this issue.  The following is a summary of the six items listed in the tax tip.

1.  The job search expenses need to be for your current occupation not a new occupation.

2.  Employment and outplacement agency fees can qualify as a deductable job search expenses but if you are reimbursed you may need to pickup the reimbursement amount as income.  The amount of the reimbursement may be limited to tax benefit you received from the prior deduction.

3.  The expense associated with preparing, making copies and mailing copies of your resume are allowed.

4.  You may be able to deduct travel expense associated with your job search.  Note, several limitation apply including that the trip's purpose must be primarily to look for a new job.

5.  A substantial break between the end of last job and when you start looking for a new job may disallow your ability to deduct the job search expenses.

6.  First time job seekers are not allowed to deduct job search expenses.

IRS Summertime Tax Tip 2009-01 can be found on the Internal Revenue Service website at http://www.irs.gov.

Note: This article is current through the publication date.  No guarantees are made concerning the accuracy of the information after the publication date.

*****

William B. Riccio, CPA/CITP is a certified public accountant.  He is president of Riccio & Associates and can be reached at (216) 255-6913 or by e-mail at william@ohiocpa.net.