Can I deduct apartment rental in PA where I work, while my permanent residence is Ohio, where I own a home and pay taxes, etc. Also, can I deduct travel costs each week?

[john-demumbrum]

In 2017 I maintained permanent residence in OH all 12 months. However, I worked in PA from JAN-OCT, commuting each week via plane or car.  

From JAN-APR, my employer paid for all travel costs and and hotels.

From  MAY-OCT, I had to rent a small apartment where I started paying rent for myself (no longer on the company), along with me paying for all travel commuting. I then quit my job end of OCT due to the tough commute.

Key Questions:

1) can I deduct MAY-OCT apartment rentals as deductions?
2) can I deduct MAY-OCT weekly travel costs?
3) can I deduct MAY-OCT meal costs?
4) if so, where/ho enter this information on Turbotax software?

Thanks.

[Hal_Al · Accepted solution]

No. None of that is deductible. You simply had a long expensive commute.  commuting cost are not deductible. Your tax home was the PA employment location.

[Anita01]

Yes, you would enter all these May-Oct expenses as job related expenses, if this was a temporary job expected to last,and that did last, less than a year.  Assuming you receive a W-2 for the work.  job related expenses are part of your itemized deductions.  Once you enter them, 2% of your Adjusted gross Income for the year is subtracted, then you get a deduction for the balance.  The total of ALL your itemized deductions needs to exceed your standard deduction before you are automatically switched over to the itemized deduction instead of your standard.

Type job-related expense in the Search window on the upper right, then select the Jump To below.

(edited 02/19/18 11:04 AM)