We are an independent, advertising-supported comparison service. Our goal is to help you make smarter financial decisions by providing you with interactive tools and financial calculators, publishing original and objective content, by enabling you to conduct research and compare information for free - so that you can make financial decisions with confidence. Bankrate has partnerships with issuers including, but not limited to, American Express, Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, Citi and Discover.
How We Make Money.
The offers that appear on this site are from companies that compensate us. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site, including, for example, the order in which they may appear within the listing categories. But this compensation does not influence the information we publish, or the reviews that you see on this site. We do not include the universe of companies or financial offers that may be available to you.
At Bankrate we strive to help you make smarter financial decisions. While we adhere to strict , this post may contain references to products from our partners. Here’s an explanation for .
Editorial Integrity
Bankrate follows a strict editorial policy, so you can trust that we’re putting your interests first. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions.
Key Principles
We value your trust. Our mission is to provide readers with accurate and unbiased information, and we have editorial standards in place to ensure that happens. Our editors and reporters thoroughly fact-check editorial content to ensure the information you’re reading is accurate. We maintain a firewall between our advertisers and our editorial team. Our editorial team does not receive direct compensation from our advertisers.
Editorial Independence
Bankrate’s editorial team writes on behalf of YOU – the reader. Our goal is to give you the best advice to help you make smart personal finance decisions. We follow strict guidelines to ensure that our editorial content is not influenced by advertisers. Our editorial team receives no direct compensation from advertisers, and our content is thoroughly fact-checked to ensure accuracy. So, whether you’re reading an article or a review, you can trust that you’re getting credible and dependable information.
How We Make Money
You have money questions. Bankrate has answers. Our experts have been helping you master your money for over four decades. We continually strive to provide consumers with the expert advice and tools needed to succeed throughout life’s financial journey.
Bankrate follows a strict editorial policy, so you can trust that our content is honest and accurate. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. The content created by our editorial staff is objective, factual, and not influenced by our advertisers.
We’re transparent about how we are able to bring quality content, competitive rates, and useful tools to you by explaining how we make money.
Bankrate.com is an independent, advertising-supported publisher and comparison service. We are compensated in exchange for placement of sponsored products and, services, or by you clicking on certain links posted on our site. Therefore, this compensation may impact how, where and in what order products appear within listing categories. Other factors, such as our own proprietary website rules and whether a product is offered in your area or at your self-selected credit score range can also impact how and where products appear on this site. While we strive to provide a wide range offers, Bankrate does not include information about every financial or credit product or service.
Thinking about applying for a new job? You could get help from the government when it’s time to file your taxes, since job-hunting expenses are generally tax deductible. You do have to meet certain criteria though.
New job, same field
First, your hunt for new work must be in the same field in which you’re currently or were formerly 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 IRS 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, because the tax law only allows you to write off expenses incurred in searching for another position in your present occupation.
But if you’re on the lookout for a new position, start saving those job-search receipts.
What you can write off
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.
Even self-employment efforts could count at tax-filing time. The costs associated with investigating or attempting to start your own business, as long as it’s in the same field as your current profession, may be tax-deductible.
Got a new job offer? Use Bankrate’s Hourly Paycheck Calculator to figure out how much you can expect to earn.
Itemizing limits
Careful tracking of these expenses is critical because they are classified as miscellaneous itemized deductions. You itemize them on line 21 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 on to those job-hunting receipts. They can help push that miscellaneous amount to the allowable level, even if you don’t get new work.
Share