Missing A Work Expense Deduction?

[Finleigh]

s About Taxes)/Missing A Work Expense Deduction? Advertisement Expert: Glenn D Schnabel - 10/17/2008 My employer is based in Anchorage, Alaska. I live 50 + miles from Anchorage. I am an hourly/ at-will employee. I work 600 miles from Anchorage, two weeks at a time.(two weeks on / two weeks off)   I drive my own vehicle to Anchorage. I have to pay to park my vehicle for two weeks at the airport. I am not reimbursed for this cost. I fly to work and live at work site for two weeks. I do this every two weeks.   Could I be writing off the cost of parking?

ANSWER: Tom,

Thank you for your question.

1) Could I be writing off the cost of parking?

If you look up past answers, you may be able to find your answer.

As per the IRS web site:

Temporary Assignment or Job

You may regularly work at your tax home and also work at another location. It may not be practical to return to your tax home from this other location at the end of each work day.

Temporary assignment vs. indefinite assignment.   If your assignment or job away from your main place of work is temporary, your tax home does not change. You are considered to be away from home for the whole period you are away from your main place of work. You can deduct your travel expenses if they otherwise qualify for deduction. Generally, a temporary assignment in a single location is one that is realistically expected to last(and does in fact last) for 1 year or less.  However, if your assignment or job is indefinite, the location of the assignment or job becomes your new tax home and you cannot deduct your travel expenses while there. An assignment or job in a single location is considered indefinite if it is realistically expected to last for more than 1 year, whether or not it actually lasts for more than 1 year.  If your assignment is indefinite, you must include in your income any amounts you receive from your employer for living expenses, even if they are called travel allowances and you account to your employer for them. You may be able to deduct the cost of relocating to your new tax home as a moving expense. See Publication 521 for more information.

Going home on days off.   If you go back to your tax home from a temporary assignment on your days off, you are not considered away from home while you are in your hometown. You cannot deduct the cost of your meals and lodging there. However, you can deduct your travel expenses, including meals and lodging, while traveling between your temporary place of work and your tax home. You can claim these expenses up to the amount it would have cost you to stay at your temporary place of work.

Basically you first need to determine if this assignment is for under 1 year. If it is, then it is considered temporary. If its over a year then it would be considered indefinite.

Hope this is helpful.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

This is what I am not certain of, where my tax home is. I believe it is in Prudhoe Bay, as this is where I always work and earn my wage.

To clarify my position:

This is a permanent job. I have been a full-time hourly employee, at this remote site job, for 16 years. Our company is in Anchorage, Alaska. I always work at Prudhoe Bay, never at Anchorage or Palmer. I work an 84+ hour week(I always work two weeks on, and then I am off work for two weeks) which is when I fly back to Anchorage and then drive home to Palmer, Alaska.

I fly from Anchorage to Prudhoe Bay(600 miles) every time I go to work. This is why I wonder if I am allowed to deduct the cost of my parking a vehicle. I live 50 miles from Anchorage airport, but since I work 600 miles from Anchorage, I have to park there every time. This is the only expense I incur that I am wondering about concerning my coming, going, or residing for this work.

Thank you for your time.

Tom  

[Elkan]

Tom,

Thank you for your follow up question.

1)This is why I wonder if I am allowed to deduct the cost of my parking a vehicle

So lets see:

You travel from your home to the airport and park your car

Then you take a plane from Anchorage to Prudhoe Bay.

Since this is a indefinite time period for the job, considered over a year, and you have been doing this for over 16 years, then this becomes your commute.

Your tax home becomes Prudhoe Bay

According to the IRS website, they give an example as follows:

Generally, your tax home is the entire city or general area where your main place of business or work is located, regardless of where you maintain your family home. For example, you live with your family in Chicago but work in Milwaukee where you stay in a hotel and eat in restaurants. You return to Chicago every weekend. You may not deduct any of your travel, meals, or lodging in Milwaukee because that is your tax home. Your travel on weekends to your family home in Chicago is not for your work, so these expenses are also not deductible. If you regularly work in more than one place, your tax home is the general area where your main place of business or work is located. Hope this is helpful