Editor's note: This is a transcript of the audio file.
Unemployment is taxing enough, so you may be pleasantly surprised to learn that your job search can help cut your tax bill.I'm Jessica Patel with your Bankrate.com Personal Finance Minute.
Many expenses like phone calls, resume services, printing and mailing of search letters and travel expenses are tax-deductible.
But your search for new work must be in the same field in which you were employed. There's also a time limit so don't take too long to begin your job search. And sorry recent graduates. You're out of luck. Only costs of searching for a position in your present field are deductible, not those spent while looking for your first job.
Careful tracking of these expenses is critical because they are classified as miscellaneous itemized deductions. You itemize them on line 21 of Schedule A.
You can't automatically subtract your job-hunting costs from your income – just those that, when added to all your miscellaneous deductions, exceed 2% percent of your income count.
To learn more about job search tax deductions…visit the tax guide at Bankrate.com. I'm Jessica Patel.