Which Moving Expenses are Deductible?

In general, there are only two categories of expenses that can be deducted as moving expenses:

• the cost of moving household goods and personal effects, including temporary storage costs
• the cost of a one-way trip for all household members to the new home, including lodging expenses (but not meals)

"Household members" includes all who reside in both the old and the new location, but does not include domestic help or tenants unless they're your dependents.

The trip must be taken by conventional, reasonable means considering the circumstances of the move. If you make side trips along the way, the side trips are not deductible expenses.

If you travel by train, air, bus, etc., the cost will generally be the cost of the tickets, plus taxis or other ground transportation if applicable. If you travel by car, you have the choice of using the standard mileage rate of 24 cents per mile for moves in 2013. In either case, you can also deduct parking fees and tolls. It's not necessary that all family members travel together or by the same method.

The cost of the trip includes the cost of lodging along the way, including lodging in the vicinity of your old home within one day of the time you could no longer stay in the old home because your furniture was moved, and expenses for the day you arrive in the new location.

The cost of moving household goods and personal effects includes the possessions of all members of the household as defined above, including pets and cars. It includes costs of packing, crating, and insuring them. It also includes the cost of storing them for up to 30 consecutive days between the time they are removed from your old home and the time they are delivered to your new home. If goods are being moved from another location besides your old residence, you can't deduct more than the cost of moving them from your old residence.

Example John Grey is moving from Chicago to Los Angeles. John also wants to move furniture and other personal effects stored at his parents' home in New York. He can deduct the cost of moving goods from both Chicago and New York, but for the New York items, he can only deduct an amount equivalent to what it would have cost to move them from Chicago.

• There is a special, more lenient rule for moving outside the U.S..
• We also provide a list of common nondeductible moving expenses.