Above-the-line deductions determine your adjusted gross income (AGI), and this can be particularly beneficial.

Qualifying Rules for Military Members

You can claim the moving expense deduction for the tax year 2018 and later only if you’re on active duty and you’re subject to a permanent change of station. This can include a move from your home to your first post, from one post to another, or from your final post to your home or to a nearer point in the U.S. You can’t claim expenses that are reimbursed by the government, and you have only one year to claim them if you’re moving due to ending your duty. Expenses associated with members of your household are covered, and your spouse and dependents can claim the moving expense deduction if they must relocate without you because you’ve died, you are imprisoned, or you deserted your post. Deductible moving expenses include the costs of moving the contents of your home, as well as lodging on your route, but not meals. Your expenses also must be “reasonable” to claim this deduction. Military members must move within one year of ending active duty or within the period of time allowed for under the Joint Travel Regulations if they’re not moving to their first post or from one permanent post to another.

Expenses That Don’t Qualify

The extra miles and costs aren’t deductible if you can get to your new destination via a direct route, but you instead elect to drive a longer, scenic route. Side trips for sightseeing or other personal matters don’t become deductible just because you also happen to be moving at the time. The below expenses do not qualify for the deduction, either:

Costs associated with buying or selling a home, including the purchase price of a new homeSecurity deposits and lease expensesRegistering an automobile in a new state, and the cost of a new driver’s licenseExpenses associated with returning to the former place of residence for any reason after the moveHouse-hunting expenses

The Rules for Other Taxpayers

Those who don’t serve in the military could still claim the deduction if they moved in 2017 and they qualified. You have three years from the date you file your return to amend it, or two years from the date you last paid taxes on that return, whichever is later. Qualifying moving expenses prior to 2018 include costs for packing, shipping, or storing your household goods and personal property and costs for travel and lodging. As with the military provisions, meals aren’t deductible as a moving expense, and side trips can’t be included. Three tests determine who can claim the moving expenses deduction, and you must meet all of them. 

You must have relocated within one year of the time when you first reported to work at your new job location. Let’s say that you moved from Seattle to Austin on July 1. You started working at your new job in Austin on November 1. You started working within one year of the time you moved, so you met the “closely related to starting work” test. This example also works if the sequence of events is reversed. Suppose you began working in Austin on April 1. You later moved all your furniture and belongings from Seattle to Austin on July 1. You still met the “closely related to starting work” test because you moved within one year from the date you started working at your new location.

The Distance Test

Your new job location must have been at least 50 miles farther from your former home than your old main job location was. First, measure the distance from your previous residence to your new workplace. We’ll call this measurement A. Now measure the distance from your previous residence to your old workplace. We’ll call this measurement B. The move would satisfy the distance test if measurement A is at least 50 miles more than measurement B. Maybe you used to live and work in Seattle, and your commute from your home to your Seattle job was 10 miles before you relocated to Austin. The distance from your previous home in Seattle to your new job location in Austin is about 2,100 miles. Because 2,100 miles is at least 50 miles farther than your old 10-mile commute, your move meets the distance test.

Another Time Test

You must have worked at your new location long enough to satisfy a third test:

You worked full-time as an employee for at least 39 weeks during the 12 months following your move, orYou worked full-time as a self-employed person for at least 39 weeks during the first 12 months following your move and at least 78 weeks during the 24-month period following the move.

There are a few exceptions to this rule:

People who worked abroad then retired and relocated back to the U.S. are exempt.Surviving spouses of persons who worked abroad and relocated back to the U.S. after their spouse’s death are also exempt.People whose job at a new location ended because they became disabled are exempt.People who were transferred to another location for their employer’s benefit, and people who were laid off for any reason other than willful misconduct, don’t have to meet this test. 

How To Claim the Deduction for Previous Years

Moving expenses were deducted “above the line” through tax year 2017. They were entered in the adjustments to income section on the first page of Form 1040, so you wouldn’t have to itemize to claim the deduction if you went back and amended your 2017 return. You could take this deduction in addition to claiming the standard deduction or itemizing your deductions. The Form 1040 tax return has been revised several times since the 2017 tax year, so military members claim the deduction differently starting with the 2018 tax year. You’ll find the deduction on line 26 of the 2018 Schedule 1 and line 13 of the 2019 and 2020 Schedule 1 forms. You’ll then total all of your adjustments to income, and this figure is then transferred to and entered on line 6 of the 2018 version of the tax return, on line 8a of the 2019 Form 1040, or on line 10a of the 2020 form.

Claiming the Deduction in 2021

Moving expenses for the 2021 tax year, as with tax years 2018, 2019, and 2020, are calculated and recorded on Form 3903. The process for claiming the deduction is much the same as for other tax forms after 2017, but the lines are different because of the changes. For 2021, the deduction is moved to line 14 of Schedule 1. Line 26 of Schedule 1 is subtracted from line 10 of the 2021 Form 1040 to arrive at your AGI.