Can I claim the rent on my apartment for my travel job when my company pays for it?

[mabartley]

My company pays for my apartment, out of sate, in return for paying me a reduced hourly rate.  Is there any way to get something back from this?

[AmandaR1 · Accepted solution]

It depends. If they include the cost of the apartment in your W-2, box 1, and it's a qualified business expense for you, it could be deducted as job expenses, part of the itemized deductions. However, deducting job expenses can be very difficult because they are first limited (by 2% of your Adjusted Gross Income - AGI a subtotal on your tax return) and you must itemize to deduct these.

If the rent isn't on your W-2, then you wouldn't get any deduction for it because you're a basically already getting a deduction by not paying taxes on the pay. To check out the employee job expense section, follow the steps below.

1. Click Take me to my return
2. Select the Federal Taxes tab and then click the Deductions & Credits tab below it
3. Scroll down to the Employee Expenses section and click the blue hyperlink Show more
4. Click Start/Revisit next to Job Expenses for W-2
5. Next you'll be asked about your occupation. [Note: if you've already visited this section, you may be on a summary screen and need to click Edit next to the applicable Occupation]
6. The screens will ask you about your employee job expenses. The last screen will ask you about any other Job-Related Expenses and you'll be able to enter a description and amount, if you don't see an applicable category.