Moving Expenses – Calculations

Specific Instructions

You can deduct the following expenses you paid to move your family and dependent household members. Do not deduct expenses for employees such as a maid, nanny, or nurse.

Line 1

Moves within or to the United States or its possessions. Enter the amount you paid to pack, crate, and move your household goods and personal effects. You can also include the amount you paid 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.

Moves outside the United States or its possessions. Enter the amount you paid to pack, crate, move, store, and insure your household goods and personal effects. Also, include the amount you paid to move your personal effects to and from storage and to store them for all or part of the time the new workplace continues to be your principal workplace.
Storage fees. Do not file Form 3903 if all of the following apply:

• You moved in an earlier year,
• You are claiming only storage fees during your absence from the United States, and
• Any amount your employer paid for the storage fees is included in box 1 of your Form W-2 (wages).

Instead, enter the storage fees on Form 1040, line 26, or Form 1040NR, line 26, and write “Storage” on the dotted line next to line 26.

Line 2

Enter the amount you paid to travel from your old home to your new home. This includes transportation and lodging on the way. Include costs for the day you arrive. The members of your household do not have to travel together or at the same time. But you can only include expenses for one trip per person. Do not include any househunting expenses.
If you use your own vehicle(s), you can figure the expenses by using either:

• Actual out-of-pocket expenses for gas and oil, or
• Mileage at the rate of 24 cents a mile.

You can add parking fees and tolls to the amount claimed under either method