IRS Publication 521: Moving Expense Deduction and Form 3903

The federal moving expense deduction is available only to two groups: active-duty members of the U.S. Armed Forces moving under a permanent change of station order, and certain intelligence community employees relocating because of a change in assignment. For everyone else, the deduction is permanently unavailable at the federal level. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act suspended it for civilian taxpayers starting in 2018, and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025 removed the sunset date, making that suspension permanent.¹

Who Can Still Claim It

If you’re on active duty and moving under military orders, you qualify. A permanent change of station covers a move from one duty post to a new one, a move to your first post of active duty, and a move from your last post to your home or a nearby location when you retire or separate.² The move must be driven by orders, not personal choice.

The intelligence community category was added by the 2025 reconciliation legislation and treats eligible IC employees the same as military members for both the deduction and the employer reimbursement exclusion.¹

The old distance and time tests are waived for both groups, so if you fall into one of these categories you don’t need to worry about how far you moved or how long you’ll work in the new location.³

What You Can Deduct

Deductible costs fall into two categories: moving your stuff, and moving yourself.

Household Goods and Personal Effects

You can deduct the cost of packing, crating, and shipping household goods and personal effects from the old home to the new one. Furniture, clothing, kitchenware, and anything else you’d normally keep at home all qualify. Shipping your car and your pets is deductible too.⁴

Storage and insurance on your belongings are deductible for up to 30 consecutive days after they leave the old home and before they arrive at the new one. If you’re being stationed in a foreign country, the rule is more generous: reasonable storage costs are deductible for the entire time you’re assigned there.⁴

Travel to the New Home

Transportation for you and your household members from the old home to the new one is deductible. That includes airfare, train fare, or the cost of driving. If you drive, you can either track actual out-of-pocket costs for gas and oil (but not maintenance, insurance, or depreciation) or use the IRS standard mileage rate. For 2026, the moving-purposes rate is 20.5 cents per mile.⁵ Parking fees and tolls are deductible under either method.

Lodging during the trip counts too. If the drive takes two days and you stay at a hotel overnight, that bill is deductible. Only the travel itself qualifies, though. Sightseeing detours or extra days at a stopover along the way don’t.⁴

What Doesn’t Count

Meals are the biggest surprise: food during the move isn’t deductible, even meals you eat on the road while driving to the new location.⁴

Other common costs that fall outside the deduction:

House-hunting trips before the move.
Temporary lodging or short-term rentals at the new location while waiting for permanent housing.
Home sale or purchase costs, including real estate commissions, closing costs, mortgage fees, title insurance, and points.
Security deposits, penalties for breaking a lease, or deposits at the new place.
Refitting carpets or drapes, or improvements to help sell the old home.
Car registration, driver’s license changes, or lost club memberships in the new area.

The dividing line is physical relocation. Getting you and your belongings from the old address to the new one is deductible. Finding, setting up, or settling into the new home is not.⁴

Employer and Government Reimbursements

For military members and qualifying intelligence community employees, reimbursements for qualified moving expenses are excluded from gross income and won’t appear as wages on your W-2.⁶ Moving and storage services provided in kind by the government get the same treatment.²

If the government reimburses you for more than your actual costs, the excess generally gets pulled into your W-2 wages. You can then use Form 3903 to deduct your actual qualified expenses and offset the amount that was included in income.⁷ Dislocation allowances, temporary lodging expenses, and move-in housing allowances have their own separate exclusion and stay out of income regardless of amount.²

For every other employee, the exclusion is gone. Any relocation money your employer pays is taxable wages, reported on your W-2 and subject to income tax withholding and payroll taxes.⁸ Because the deduction is also unavailable, there’s no way to offset that income on your return.

Filing With Form 3903

Eligible taxpayers claim the deduction on IRS Form 3903, Moving Expenses. List your qualified expenses on the form, subtract any reimbursements that were already excluded from income, and carry the result to Schedule 1 (Form 1040), line 14.⁹ It’s an above-the-line deduction, so it reduces your adjusted gross income whether you itemize or take the standard deduction.

If all your moving expenses were reimbursed or provided by the government and that reimbursement was excluded from income, you don’t need to file Form 3903 at all. There’s nothing to deduct because there was no taxable income to offset. File the form only when you have unreimbursed qualified expenses, or when part of your reimbursement was included in your W-2 wages.⁹

Records to Keep

Hold onto receipts and documentation for everything you plan to deduct: moving company invoices, gas receipts, hotel bills, mileage logs, and a copy of your military orders. The IRS can examine your return for up to three years from the filing date or the due date, whichever is later, so keep the file at least that long.¹⁰

If you use the standard mileage rate, keep a log with odometer readings at the start and end of the trip along with dates and route. A tracking app is fine. For household goods, the moving company’s bill of lading and final invoice usually cover it, but save any separate receipts for packing materials, insurance, or storage you paid out of pocket.

State Returns May Be Different

A handful of states still allow a moving expense deduction on the state return, following the pre-2017 federal rules. If you live in one of those states, you may be able to deduct qualifying expenses at the state level even when you can’t federally. Eligibility generally mirrors the old federal distance and time tests. Check your state tax agency’s website or your state return instructions to confirm what’s available where you live.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 217 – Moving Expenses
2
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 3 (2025), Armed Forces’ Tax Guide
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 217 – Moving Expenses
4
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 521 – Moving Expenses
5
Internal Revenue Service. IRS Sets 2026 Business Standard Mileage Rate at 72.5 Cents Per Mile, Up 2.5 Cents
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 132 – Certain Fringe Benefits
7
Internal Revenue Service. 2025 Instructions for Form 3903 – Moving Expenses
8
Internal Revenue Service. Moving Expenses to and from the United States
9
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 3903 (2025)
10
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 3903