I work in another state. Can I deduct rent for my apartment or mileage from home?

[thamberg]

Own home in Indiana and pay taxes there, work in Ohio and have apartment there since they are over 150 miles apart from each other.

[MichaelDC]

Yes, you can deduct these expenses if the situation qualifies as a "temporary assignment". Things that aren't normally deductible when you're living at home, become deductible because you are out of town on business.

The main rule is that these are travel expenses incurred are for an extended business trip or temporary work assignment that was intended to last one year or less. It is unclear from your question if you expect the assignment or job to last for 1 year or less.

If so, temporary living expenses include hotel lodging (or apartment rent for longer stays), meals, and local transportation.  Meals may be estimated using federal per diem rates.

See the info below for details. See this link for expenses you can deduct.

Follow these steps:

·         Click Federal Taxes

·         Click Deductions & Credits

·         Click View All Tax Breaks

·         Click Employment Expenses and (Start or Edit)

·         Your Temporary Assignment expenses will go under Travel

Temporary Assignment:  The IRS states that if you expect your employment away from home in a single location to last, and it does last, for 1 year or less, it is temporary unless facts and circumstances indicate otherwise.  If you expect it to last for more than 1 year, it is indefinite.  However, if you expect your employment away from home to last for 1 year or less, but at some later date you expect it to last longer than 1 year, it is temporary (in the absence of facts and circumstances indicating otherwise) until your expectation changes.  Starting with the date your expectation changes, travel expenses will no longer be deductible.  (IRS Publication 54, page 12).  What determines a temporary versus an indefinite assignment is the intent of the taxpayer.  If assignment contracts can be made to last a year or less, this makes it much easier to document and support the position that your job was temporary in the uncommon event of an audit (see below).

Going home on days off.   If you go back to your tax home from a temporary assignment on your days off, you aren’t considered away from home while you are in your hometown. You can’t deduct the cost of your meals and lodging there. However, you can deduct your travel expenses, including meals and lodging, while traveling between your temporary place of work and your tax home. You can claim these expenses up to the amount it would have cost you to stay at your temporary place of work.

If you keep your hotel room during your visit home, you can deduct the cost of your hotel room. In addition, you can deduct your expenses of returning home up to the amount you would have spent for meals had you stayed at your temporary place of work.

[hueman10]

If this is true, what form would be used? I am from Louisiana and working in Texas. Can I deduct my living expenses? Rent, water, electricity, gas, food, etc. ?

[DawnC]

If was true when the original answer was written, but things have changed since then.   The Community Forum here was recently created and in 2019, all of the previous forum's answers were transferred to this new platform.  So when you see a post with a date of  June of 2019, that post could be from any date prior to that date.

In 2017 and earlier tax years, employees could get a partial deduction for expenses incurred while commuting between multiple job sites during the same day, as well as commutes to temporary work locations.    However, these expenses are no longer deductible on most people’s federal return in tax years 2018 through 2025 due to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) that Congress signed into law on December 22, 2017.

However, the job-related expenses deduction is still available to people who work in one of these specific professions or situations:

• Armed Forces reservist
• Qualified performing artist
• Fee-basis state or local government official
• You're disabled and have impairment-related expenses

Additionally, job-related expenses may be deductible in your state. Enter your expenses and we’ll figure out if you can deduct them.  (see where do I enter? below).

Related Information:

• Where do I enter job-related employee expenses? (Form 2106)
• Which federal tax deductions have been suspended by tax reform?
• Can employees deduct any job-related expenses?

@hueman10

[tbn1983]

That's only for employees though, correct?

If I'm a self-employed 1099/NEC contractor, the repeal does not apply? In terms of being able to deduct rent/hotel as long as it's under 1 year while out of state?

[KrisD15]

True. 

Most expenses for travel could be claimed as expenses on your Schedule C, but not trips back and forth to your other home. 

According to the IRS:

"Generally, your tax home is the entire city or general area where your main place of business or work is located, regardless of where you maintain your family home. For example, you live with your family in Chicago but work in Milwaukee where you stay in a hotel and eat in restaurants. You return to Chicago every weekend. You may not deduct any of your travel, meals or lodging in Milwaukee because that's your tax home. Your travel on weekends to your family home in Chicago isn't for your work, so these expenses are also not deductible. If you regularly work in more than one place, your tax home is the general area where your main place of business or work is located.

In determining your main place of business, take into account the length of time you normally need to spend at each location for business purposes, the degree of business activity in each area, and the relative significance of the financial return from each area. However, the most important consideration is the length of time you spend at each location.

You can deduct travel expenses paid or incurred in connection with a temporary work assignment away from home. However, you can't deduct travel expenses paid in connection with an indefinite work assignment. Any work assignment in excess of one year is considered indefinite. Also, you may not deduct travel expenses at a work location if you realistically expect that you'll work there for more than one year, whether or not you actually work there that long. If you realistically expect to work at a temporary location for one year or less, and the expectation changes so that at some point you realistically expect to work there for more than one year, travel expenses become nondeductible when your expectation changes."

IRS LINK