Can I deduct travel and parking costs for an unpaid master's level internship?

[Opus 17 · Accepted solution]

Sorry, no. You can only deduct mileage as a work expense against work income. Mileage for education is not deductible.

[kimmie18-0]

That is not necessarily true.  Unpaid internships to non-profit organizations are considered volunteer work and may be able to be deducted depending on your filing status.  You should check this with the IRS or a CPA who is qualified to offer advice, but that is what I was told.  

[kimmie18-0]

Student Intern Volunteer Tax Deductions

When you work as a student intern and you are classified as a nonprofit volunteer instead of an employee, you can't deduct job related-expenses or any of the time you put in. However, you may be able to take a deduction for travel expenses if they are incurred while you are performing a service for the organization. If you spend your own money to get your work done, such as paying for stamps or copier fees, you can write the cost off your taxes if the organization does not reimburse you.

[xmasbaby0]

Interesting.....but where in this year old thread do you see anything about the user working for a nonprofit?

[bilky90]

Doesn't really matter if it's a year old question if someone is looking for answers online.  As a graduate level intern myself, many of our internships are in non-profit organizations and therefore we can claim some travel expenses.  Being that the question didn't specify, a blanket "sorry, no" answer doesn't tell the whole story and could confuse people.  My suggestion was get more info from a tax specialist because some internship travel expenses are deductible.  Exactly what did your answer contribute??