You can deduct the cost of packing, crating, and transporting your household goods and personal effects and those of the members of your household from your former home to your new home. For purposes of moving expenses, the term personal effects includes, but is not limited to, movable personal property that the taxpayer owns and frequently uses.

If you use your own car to move your things, see Travel by car, earlier.

You can deduct any costs of connecting or disconnecting utilities required because you are moving your household goods, appliances, or personal effects.

You can deduct the cost of shipping your car and your household pets to your new home.

You can deduct the cost of moving your household goods and personal effects from a place other than your former home. Your deduction is limited to the amount it would have cost to move them from your former home.

You can include the cost of storing and insuring household goods and personal effects within any period of 30 consecutive days after the day your things are moved from your former home and before they are delivered to your new home.

You can deduct the cost of transportation and lodging for yourself and members of your household while traveling from your former home to your new home. This includes expenses for the day you arrive.

You can include any lodging expenses you had in the area of your former home within one day after you could no longer live in your former home because your furniture had been moved.

You can deduct expenses for only one trip to your new home for yourself and members of your household. However, all of you do not have to travel together or at the same time. If you use your own car, see Travel by car, earlier.

If your move is to a location outside the United States and its possessions, you can deduct the following expenses.

You can deduct the reasonable expenses of moving your personal effects to and from storage.

You can deduct the reasonable expenses of storing your household goods and personal effects for all or part of the time the new job location remains your main job location.

If you live and work outside the United States, you may be able to exclude from income part or all of the income you earn in the foreign country. You may also be able to claim a foreign housing exclusion or deduction. If you claim the foreign earned income or foreign housing exclusion, you cannot deduct the part of your moving expenses that relates to the excluded income.

Deductible moving expensesPublication 54, Tax Guide for U.S. Citizens and Resident Aliens Abroad, explains how to figure the part of your moving expenses that relates to excluded income. You can get the publication from most U.S. embassies and consulates, or see How To Get Tax Help at the end of this publication.

Your employer should not include in your wages reimbursements paid under an accountable plan (explained earlier) for moving expenses that you:

Your employer must include in your income any reimbursements made (or treated as made) under a nonaccountable plan, even though they are for deductible moving expenses. See Nonaccountable Plans under Types of Reimbursement Plans, earlier. Your employer also must include in your gross income as wages any reimbursements of, or payments for, nondeductible moving expenses. This includes amounts your employer reimbursed you under an accountable plan (explained earlier) for meals, househunting trips, and real estate expenses. It also includes reimbursements that exceed your deductible expenses and that you do not return to your employer.

If your employer reimburses you for both deductible and nondeductible moving expenses, your employer must determine the amount of the reimbursement that is not taxable and not subject to withholding. Your employer must treat any remaining amount as taxable wages and withhold income tax, social security tax, and Medicare tax.

If the reimbursements or allowances you receive are taxable, the amount of income tax your employer will withhold depends on several factors. It depends in part on whether or not income tax is withheld from your regular wages, on whether or not the reimbursements and allowances are added to your regular wages, and on any information you have given to your employer on Form W-4, Employee's Withholding Allowance Certificate.

Your employer can treat your reimbursements as supplemental wages and not include the reimbursements and allowances in your regular wages. The employer can withhold income tax on supplemental wages at a flat rate which may be different than your regular tax rate.

ReimbursementsIf you must make estimated tax payments, you need to take into account any taxable reimbursements and deductible moving expenses in figuring your estimated tax. For details about estimated tax, see Publication 505, Tax Withholding and Estimated Tax.

Complete Worksheet 1, earlier, or the Distance Test Worksheet in the instructions for Form 3903 to see whether you meet the distance test. If so, complete lines 1-3 of the form using your actual expenses (except, if you use your own car, you can figure expenses based on a standard mileage rate, instead of on actual amounts for gas and oil). Enter on line 4 the total amount of your moving expense reimbursement that was excluded from your wages. This excluded amount should be identified with code P in box 12 of Form W-2.

Deduct your moving expenses on line 26 of Form 1040. The amount of moving expenses you can deduct is shown on line 5 of Form 3903.

If you were not reimbursed, deduct your moving expenses in the year you paid or incurred the expenses.

If you are reimbursed for your expenses and you use the cash method of accounting, you can deduct your expenses either in the year you paid them or in the year you received the reimbursement. If you use the cash method of accounting, you can choose to deduct the expenses in the year you are reimbursed even though you paid the expenses in a different year. See Choosing when to deduct, next.

If you deduct your expenses and you receive the reimbursement in a later year, you must include the reimbursement in your income.