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Tired of your same
old humdrum job? Then get out there and look for a new
one! It might even help you cut your tax bill.
Under certain circumstances,
job-hunting expenses are tax-deductible.
New job, same field
First, your hunt for new work must
be in the same field in which you're currently employed.
Uncle Sam won't help out if you decide to totally switch
career gears.
Second, you can't decide to chill
out for a while and then expect the Internal Revenue
Service to help when you decide it's time to get back
on the career track. Deductions aren't allowed for employment-search
costs when there is a "substantial break" between your
last job and when you begin looking for a new one.
Finally, recent graduates are out
of luck. The costs you incur in getting your first job
aren't deductible.
But if you're a computer programmer
and think you can get a better deal from another high-tech
company, start saving those job-search receipts.
What you can write off
Some of the costs that are tax-deductible
include:
- Employment and outplacement agency
fees
- Resume services
- Printing and mailing costs of
search letters
- Want-ad placement fees
- Telephone calls
- Travel expenses, including out-of-town
job-hunting trips.
Itemizing limits
Careful tracking of these expenses
is critical because they are classified as miscellaneous
itemized deductions. You itemize them on line 20 of
Schedule
A.
But you can't automatically subtract
your job-hunting costs from your income -- just those
that, when added to all your miscellaneous deductions,
come to more than 2 percent of your adjusted gross income.
So hang onto those job-hunt vouchers.
They can help push that miscellaneous amount to the
allowable level even if you don't get new work.
Freelance writer Kay Bell writes Bankrate's
tax stories from her home in Austin, Texas, and blogs
each day on tax topics at Don't
Mess with Taxes.
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