My wife had a 12 week long summer associate position which we rented her an apartment for. Can this be a tax deduction? We have a home in another city which we normally live.

[josh1]

There was no housing or expenses included with this job. just her regular pay for the 12 weeks.  I'm self employed we have a son and file jointly.  
Thanks for your time

[Opus 17]

It depends on where her "tax home" is.  Her tax home is where she earns the majority of her income, or does the majority of administrative work related to her job.  If this was her only income for the year, then her tax home is City #2 where the job and apartment were, even though her personal home is in City #1.  Essentially, she chose a job with a really long commute, and commuting is not deductible.  See chapter 1 here for more. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p463.pdf

If she also had a job in your main city and earned more money in the main city, then her tax home is probably your main city and the summer job in city #2 could be considered a temporary job away from her tax home.  In that case, travel, lodging, and 50% of meals are deductible. If this was a W-2 job the deductions are all on form 2106 unreimbursed employee expenses, and are an itemized deduction on schedule A and subject to the 2% rule, so the deduction will be limited by your other tax circumstances.  If she was an independent contractor, the expenses are deductible on schedule C. 

[Hal_Al]

Simple answer: no.  

Essentially, she chose a job with a really long commute, and commuting expenses, whether mileage or lodging and meals is not deductible.  

A situation where it would be deducible is when her work there was directly related to her current job in your home city, and this was just a temporary  out of town assignment.

If her out of town job was not as a W-2 employee, but on a freelance basis, the expenses might be deductible.  Even then, the answer is only maybe, depending on other details.