IRS Reports on Returns for High-Income Filers

The costs you pay to get to and from work every day usually aren’t tax deductible. Commuting costs are treated as a nondeductible personal expense. This rule doesn’t change because the commute is long and costly. That’s what one oral surgeon found out when he tried to deduct his gasoline, tolls, and other car-related expenses for daily commute between Gladwyne, a suburb of Philadelphia, and Elmsford, a suburb of New York City. He also tried to deduct the cost of lodging for occasional stays in Elmsford when he decided not to drive home at night.

Personal expenses, including travel costs, meals, and lodging, can be deductible if the travel is to a temporary work location. In this case, however, his New York office was his only place of business; it could not be viewed as a temporary work location. His non-temporary work location was in New York; his home was in Pennsylvania. His travel costs were not deductible. The fact that the drive was long and the trip costly has no impact on the outcome in this case.

Source: Bigdeli, TC Memo 2013-148