Deductions & credits

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@crewman59 wrote:

@Opus 17 

To clarify - it's for a 2 week period, about 6 times a year. 

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This issue is still that you defined California as your Tax Home.   See publication 463.

https://www.irs.gov/publications/p463

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p463.pdf

"your tax home is your regular place of business or post of duty, regardless of where you maintain your family home. It includes the entire city or general area in which your business or work is located."

To deduct your travel costs from your home in Washington to your work site in California, Washington must be your Tax Home and the assignment/arrangement must be temporary.   You have not answered my prior question, do you earn money in Washington?  Is it where you earn most of your money?  Is the California work a side gig, or your main job?  And is it temporary, or indefinite?

California is your tax home if it is the only place where you earn money, or it is the place where you earn most of your money, and money earned in other places is "insignificant" compared to the amount of money earned in California.

If you earn so much of your annual income during those 12 weeks per year that income earned in Washington is "insignificant" compared to the amount of money earned in California, then California is your tax home.  And traveling from the place where you live, to your Tax Home (where you earn most of your money) is never deductible.  

(Also, don't get hung up on the one year limit for temporary work as being 365 non-consecutive days.  It's how long in calendar time that the arrangement lasts.  If your arrangement is 2 weeks in CA, 6 times a year, but that arrangement lasts more than 1 calendar year, it's not temporary, even though it might be less than 365 days.)

From the IRS:

To determine whether you are traveling away from home, you must first determine the location of your tax home.

Generally, your tax home is your regular place of business or post of duty, regardless of where you maintain your family home. It includes the entire city or general area in which your business or work is located.

If you have more than one regular place of business, your tax home is your main place of business. See Main place of business or work, later.

If you don’t have a regular or a main place of business because of the nature of your work, then your tax home may be the place where you regularly live. See No main place of business or work, later.

If you don’t have a regular or main place of business or post of duty and there is no place where you regularly live, you are considered an itinerant (a transient) and your tax home is wherever you work. As an itinerant, you can’t claim a travel expense deduction because you are never considered to be traveling away from home.