Determine where your tax home is before adding up expenses to deduct for travel. Your tax home is generally considered to be the city or general area that your place of work is located in. Travel expenses may only be deducted for travel outside of your tax home, according to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
If you live in one city, but work in another, you cannot deduct the fuel or commuting expenses related to the job because the place of employment is in the location you are traveling to. Going home from work will not count because the government sees this as non-work related.
If you live far enough from work that you stay in a hotel during the week and get to come home only on weekends, the same laws apply; the money spent during the travel back and forth, and the hotel and restaurant expenses, are not deductible because you are in your tax home all week.
You can deduct travel expenses related to your temporary job. The tax home does not apply to temporary work that lasts less than 1 year. For example, a construction worker who travels to another state to work on a job site for 6 months may deduct the expenses he accumulates on housing, food and fuel. If the job will last more than 1 year, he will not have the option to deduct expenses.
Deduct expenses related to finding a new job as long as you are trying to find work in the same profession or trade and have not been unemployed for an extended time, according to the IRS. If you are looking for work for the first time or are changing career paths, then this type of deduction does not apply to you.
If you are attending a convention that is related to your job and it benefits your trade or business, then the travel expenses are deductible. Keep track of the cost of plane tickets, trains, car rentals, taxi fare, meals, lodging, tips, dry cleaning, laundry, business calls or fees related to your work.
Deduct all meals eaten while on a travel assignment away from your tax home. You may only deduct 50 percent of the cost of these meals, according to the IRS.
