Start-up costs are incurred before the business opens. Your job expenses are incurred after you are employed. Please see this excerpt from Tax Topic 513:
To be deductible, your expenses must be for education that (1) maintains or improves skills needed in your present work or (2) your employer or the law requires to keep your present salary, status or job. However, even if the education meets either of these tests, the education can't be part of a program that will qualify you for a new trade or business or that you need to meet the minimal educational requirements of your present trade or business.
Education expenses incurred during temporary absence from your work may also be deductible, but the education must be to maintain or improve skills needed in your present work. After your temporary absence, you must return to the same general type of work. Usually, absence from work for one year or less is considered temporary.
Expenses that you can deduct include:
- Tuition, books, supplies, lab fees, and similar items
- Certain transportation and travel costs
- Other educational expenses, such as the cost of research and typing
To determine if your work-related expenses are deductible, see Are My Work-Related Education Expenses Deductible?
Start-up expenses do not include education that trains you for a new line of work.
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