Realtor.com is not a tax advice site by any means, however, they specifically list certain costs associated with staging a home. " One of those costs is storing items so you can declutter and depersonalize a home so buyers can more easily envision themselves living in the home"
Advertising costs are part of selling a home. Staging is part of advertising. In order to bring furniture into the house, you would have to remove other furniture or you would be defeating the purpose.
Reasonably, you are correct, if someone was offered free staging if they got the furniture to the house, the rental of the truck would be part of the cost of staging.
If you choose to claim the storage fees, simply keep any type of documentation that you moved your stuff into storage for the sole purpose of staging the home.
Note, as you and Opus both mentioned, if you moved your items into storage for any reason other than staging, or if you continued to store the items after the house sold, or if you took the home off the market, these fees would not be able to be considered advertising expenses.
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