Transportation And Storage Costs

Transportation and storage costs are an allowable deduction on Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Form 3903, Moving Expenses. The costs are a moving expense deduction related to the costs of a taxpayer's relocation for employment. Transportation and storage costs include the cost of moving and storing the taxpayer's possessions.

Transportation and storage can only be deducted for certain types of property, including furniture, vehicles, pets and personal belongings. The cost of storing the taxpayer's belongings during the relocation process is deductible for the first 30 days.

Transportation and storage costs involved in moving for a new job or other qualifying situations are deductible on personal income taxes. Transportation and storage costs are reported on Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Form 3903, Moving Expenses, aggregated with all other moving-related expenses. Transportation and storage costs, along with the reasons for the move, must meet certain requirements in order to be deductible.

Assuming the move itself qualifies as deductible, certain transportation and storage costs can be deducted. IRS instructions for itemizing these transportation and storage costs direct the taxpayer to deduct “the actual cost to pack, crate, and move your household goods and personal effects. You may also include the cost to store and insure household goods and personal effects within any period of 30 days in a row after the items were moved from your old home and before they were delivered to your new home.” Note that this does not necessarily cover every cost involved in transportation and storage surrounding moving to a new location and residence, so the taxpayer must keep careful account of expenses to ensure that allowable deductions are the only ones entered into Form 3903.

IRS Form 3903, Moving Expenses, allows taxpayers to itemize deductible expenses for qualified moves. The two categories allowed are transportation and storage of property and travel and lodging expenses for the taxpayer and dependents. Previously, the IRS allowed for deduction of pre-move housing search expenses as well as meals and temporary housing costs, but as of 1993 those were no longer allowed as deductible expenses. Instead, the two categories that are allowed are movement of physical items to the new residence, including periods of storage for these items, and movement of the taxpayer and dependents to the new residence, with one trip allowed per person. This assumes that there is less flexibility in moving physical items than there is in moving people, because the built-in deductions assume that the movement of people will take one trip while the movement of things may take multiple trips and stops over a period of 30 days.