I apologize in advance if this is long, I'm just trying to understand as few things.

1. Moving expenses
My husband PCS'd to Hawaii in Nov. 2006. We weren't married and I therefore wasn't on his orders to accompany him. We married in Dec. 2006 and I moved to Hawaii in March 2007. We had to pay expenses ourselves and we were not reimbursed as I was not on the original orders to accompany back in Nov. 2006. We paid for my flight and to ship my car. In case it makes a difference, the car is in both our names (the one we paid to have shipped) and all of his stuff (HHG and car) weren't shipped to Hawaii until 2007, after he had turned in the paperwork saying we were married and applied to live off base. I'm not sure if this means his orders were ammended to accompanied or not, but as soon as he turned in the paperwork, he started receiving COLA w/dependents and we were NOT receiving FSA, which I know you get when you're separated because of the military, not if you just live in a different place because you choose to. I found this answer, but I'm not sure if it applies. "You can deduct moving expenses you pay for yourself and members of your household. A member of your household is anyone who has both your former and new home as his or her home." His address when he enlisted was his parents home (he PCS'd right after SOI), but the address he used as the home address for pick up of his HHG and car in 2007 after we were married was mine.

2. Job related expenses
From TurboTax as a deduction- Purchase price and cleaning expense for uniforms or protective clothing required by your employer, including safety glasses and boots.

From IRS Pub. 529 - Military uniforms. You generally cannot deduct the cost fees of your uniforms if you are on full-time active duty armed forces. If local military rules do not allow you to wear fatigue uniforms when you are off duty, you can deduct the amount by which the cost of buying and keeping up these uniforms is more than the uniform allowance you receive. If you are a student at an armed forces academy, you cannot deduct the cost of your uniforms if they replace regular clothing. However, you can deduct the cost of insignia, shoulder boards, and related items

I understand that we cannot deduct the cost of uniforms, unless he cannot wear them off duty (which he can't) then we subtract what we've spent from the clothing allowance he received this year. What constitutes his uniform? For example...can we include the price of rank insignias we've purchased for cammies as well as chevrons for his alphas, charlies, and blues? What about the socks he wears with his boots? He would never wear those outside of work and they are required footwear. His shirts and skivvie shorts he wears under his cammies are the green ones that he can't wear off base, do those count as part of his uniform?

From TurboTax as a deduction- Equipment and tools required to perform your job.

Before he left for Iraq, DH bought a lot of stuff. Some of it was on a list that they had to have with them, some of it was stuff he bought that he felt would make his job more comfortable. Things like frag pouches, ammo pouches, gunsling, gloves, etc. Would this stuff be considered equipment and tools required to perfrom the job and could we deduct those items?

I appreciate the help and again, I apologize for this being so lengthy. Maybe though, this will help others too. :-)

Smarden, if the military did not pay or reimburse you for moving and shipping expenses paid out of pocket, then you can claim that expense.

Clothing--if he was given a clothing allowance, then you cannot claim that since the money given to him was for the replacement of items--that includes socks, tshirts, boots, insignias, etc.

Equip/tools---not so sure about. Technically the military provides everything required for duty. Anything beyond that is a 'comfort purchase'....that make sense? So I'm not sure if he can claim that. *If you do*, make sure you have every single receipt for verification---just in case you're one of the special people who come up for an audit.

quote:

Originally posted by smarden:
What about the socks he wears with his boots? He would never wear those outside of work and they are required footwear. His shirts and skivvie shorts he wears under his cammies are the green ones that he can't wear off base, do those count as part of his uniform?

The IRS only allows deduction of clothing that CANNOT be used for anything other than work related purposes. So while you husband might not want to wear those socks, T-shirts, "skivvies," etc, while not at work he could, and therefore the items would not be deductible.

For example I work in law enforcement and have a couple suits I keep at the office only for going to court. Although I have other suits at home for the occasional wedding, funeral, etc, I can't deduct the cost of those "work" suits because I could use them outside of work.

quote:

From TurboTax as a deduction- Equipment and tools required to perform your job.

Before he left for Iraq, DH bought a lot of stuff. Some of it was on a list that they had to have with them, some of it was stuff he bought that he felt would make his job more comfortable. Things like frag pouches, ammo pouches, gunsling, gloves, etc. Would this stuff be considered equipment and tools required to perfrom the job and could we deduct those items?

In some cases yes, in some cases no. Again if the item can only be used for work it's likely a valid deduction, but if the item could reasonably be used for non-work related purposes it's most likely not a deductible expense.

Greetings and special blessings to one and all.

Here is a link that will give you all the information on moving expenses. I found it on another thread, so you may have already checked it out.

I also recommend that you talk to 2 or 3 different people at the IRS, since you do have a specific set of events.

I would think that all of your moving expenses would be deductible if you were not reimbursed for them.

You really need to talk to H&R Block and the IRS to be on the safe side.

May God richly bless and keep each of you.

In His Service,

Grover

Sorry, I forgot to put the link in the post above, Here it is:

http://usmilitary.about.com/library/milinfo/tax2000/blhowtoreport.htm

Grover