TRAVEL DEDUCTION – TEMPORARY WORKPLACE

For purposes of determining whether transportation between work and home is deductible, the IRS states that a temporary workplace is one where employment is expected to last one year or less. The following applies under the IRS definition:

• Employment is temporary if it is realistically expected to last (and does last) for a year or less.
• If employment at a location is expected to last for over a year, the employment isn’t temporary, regardless of whether it actually exceeds one year.
• If employment at a location initially is expected to last for one year or less, but later the expectation be for it to exceed a year, the employment is temporary until the date the taxpayer’s expectation changes. After that date, it is non-temporary.

Break between temporary assignments – There is no general IRS guidance on how significant a break must be, following a period of temporary employment, for a reassignment to a different work location to be treated as a separate period of work employment that will “restart the clock” on the 1-year limit. The IRS says however, that a break exceeding 1-year is “clearly significant enough” to restart the clock.