Job search deductions

Looking for a new job? You might qualify for some income tax deductions. For example, you can deduct:

• the cost of resumés, including postage for sending them to prospective employers

• job counseling and referral fees

• employment agency fees

• telephone charges related to seeking new employment

• out-of-town travel for interviews, if you're not being reimbursed by the prospective employer.

For job search expenses to be deductible, you must be looking for employment in the same line of work for which you're currently trained. The IRS also says that job-hunting expenses incurred in seeking employment for the first time are not deductible. This rule can be tough on students entering the job market for the first time. But they can get around it by completing an internship or finding a part-time job in a practice during their senior year.

Gary I. Glassman

If you're temporarily unemployed, expenses related to seeking employment in the field in which you were previously employed are deductible. But if there's a substantial period between the earlier employment and the current search, you can't deduct job search expenses. So if you took off several years to take care of the kids or returned to school to pursue postgraduate studies, the cost of seeking employment is not deductible.

Deductible expenses in seeking employment are claimed as miscellaneous itemized deductions. As a result, individuals who take the standard deduction can't claim such expenses. In addition, miscellaneous itemized deductions are deductible only to the extent that, in the aggregate, they exceed 2 percent of your adjusted gross income. So this will only pay off if your job-hunting costs are large or you have other significant miscellaneous deductions.

Gary I. Glassman, CPA, is a partner with Burzenski and Co. PC in East Haven, Conn., and a member of the Veterinary Economics Editorial Advisory Board.