Unfortunately, because it was not anticipated to last more one year or less, her costs are not deductible.
The
statute on away from home was changed in 1992 to include "For purposes of
paragraph (2), the taxpayer shall not be treated as being temporarily away from
home during any period of employment if such period exceeds 1 year."
IRS's
Tax Topic 511 addresses this
as follows: "Travel expenses paid
or incurred in connection with a temporary work assignment away from home are
deductible. However, travel expenses paid in connection with an indefinite work
assignment are not deductible. Any work assignment in excess of one year is
considered indefinite. Also, you may not deduct travel expenses at a work
location if it is realistically expected that you will 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 less than one year,
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. "
Note
that if a permanent position is accepted but it turns out to be, for example,
only for 8 months, the travel expenses would not be deductible as you did not
realistically expect to work there less than one year when the assignment
began.
