Moving Expenses

[giogis245]

Clients moved from IL to Arizona in April of 2017 she says due to work purposes, but after she moved to AZ, she has not worked.  Does she have to start working as of April 2018 to qualify for the moving expense deduction?  Am i understanding the moving deduction correctly?

[Catherine]

Was there a job offered and accepted, that then fell through?

[jklcpa]

26 minutes ago, giogis245 said:

Clients moved from IL to Arizona in April of 2017 she says due to work purposes, but after she moved to AZ, she has not worked.  Does she have to start working as of April 2018 to qualify for the moving expense deduction?  Am i understanding the moving deduction correctly?

Deduction is not allowed in the case you are describing. You seem to be confusing the "time test" with the allowed time for when expenses for the move are incurred.

For employees that move, they must work full-time for a total of 39 weeks, not needing to be contiguous, and self-employed persons have a higher requirement. If the requirement isn't met by the end of the tax year, the deduction is still allowed if meeting the requirement by the due date of the return.

I believe the 12-month period you are thinking of is where expenses are incurred within the 12-month period and the person otherwise qualifies for the deduction.

See pub 521 here and look at the section for "Time Test" and check to see if your client might meet one of the exceptions to the test.