J.K. Lasser's Your Income Tax 2013: For Preparing Your 2012 Tax Return

33.16 Local Transportation and Travel Away From Home To Take Courses

If your courses meet the requirements in the preceding two sections (33.14, 33.15), costs of local transportation and travel away from home may be included in the business/job expense deduction.

Local transportation expenses.

If your courses qualify for a deduction under 33.15, you may deduct transportation costs of going from your job directly to school. Transportation costs include the actual costs of bus, subway, cab, or other fares, as well as the costs of using your car. According to the IRS, the return trip from school to home is also deductible if you are regularly employed and going to school on a temporary basis. According to the IRS, you are going to school on a temporary basis if your courses are realistically expected to last for one year or less and actually do last no more than one year. This is the same one-year test for determining whether you can deduct the cost of commuting to a “temporary” work location (20.2) or living costs while away from home on a “temporary” assignment (20.9). The IRS position is illustrated in the following Examples.

EXAMPLES

1. You drive home from work, and two nights a week for one month you drive from home to attend a refresher course. The course is considered temporary. You may deduct the round-trip transportation costs between home and school. The deduction is allowed regardless of how far you travel.

If you went directly from your job to the school, you may ...