For most people, job search expenses are no longer tax deductible on a federal return. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 suspended the deduction for W-2 employees starting in 2018, and the One, Big, Beautiful Bill signed in 2025 made that elimination permanent.1U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means. The One, Big, Beautiful Bill Section by Section Resume costs, interview travel, and placement agency fees now come out of your pocket with no federal write-off. A few narrow worker categories still qualify, and some states continue to allow the deduction on state returns.
What Changed and Why It’s Permanent
Before 2018, employees could deduct unreimbursed job search costs as miscellaneous itemized deductions on Schedule A, but only to the extent those costs exceeded 2% of adjusted gross income. The TCJA suspended that whole category through 2025, and many filers expected it to return in 2026.
It won’t. Section 110010 of the One, Big, Beautiful Bill permanently eliminates miscellaneous itemized deductions, including unreimbursed employee business expenses like job hunting costs.1U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means. The One, Big, Beautiful Bill Section by Section The IRS confirmed the change in its 2026 inflation adjustments.2Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026, Including Amendments From the One, Big, Beautiful Bill There is no scheduled sunset. If you’re a typical W-2 employee, no future tax year is going to bring this deduction back.
Who Can Still Deduct Job Search Expenses
Four categories of workers can still deduct unreimbursed employee business expenses, including job search costs, using Form 2106.3Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 2106 (2025)
- Armed Forces reservists who travel more than 100 miles from home to perform their duties. Their unreimbursed travel expenses are an above-the-line adjustment on Schedule 1, so they benefit whether they itemize or not.4Internal Revenue Service. Publication 3 (2025), Armed Forces Tax Guide – Section: Adjustments to Income
- Qualified performing artists who worked for at least two employers during the year, received $200 or more from each, had business expenses exceeding 10% of their performing arts income, and had AGI of $16,000 or less before deducting those expenses. The $16,000 cap has never been indexed to inflation, so almost no one qualifies.5Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 2106 (2025) – Section: Specific Instructions
- Fee-basis state or local government officials, meaning public officials paid directly by the public for specific services rather than drawing a regular salary.6Internal Revenue Service. Tax Withholding for Government Workers – Section: Fee-Basis Officials
- Employees with impairment-related work expenses, who claim those costs on Schedule A.
For the first three, the deduction flows through Schedule 1 as an adjustment to income. Impairment-related expenses go on Schedule A. All four groups compute the amount on Form 2106.3Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 2106 (2025)
Rules That Still Apply If You Qualify
Falling into one of the four categories isn’t enough on its own. The IRS also imposes three restrictions on what kind of job search counts.
The Search Must Be in Your Current Line of Work
Expenses only qualify if you’re looking for a position in the same occupation. Changing careers disqualifies the search. The IRS looks at whether the new role involves the same general duties as your current work; a marketing manager looking for another marketing job is fine, a marketing manager pivoting to software engineering is not.7Internal Revenue Service. You May Be Able to Deduct Some of Your Job Hunting Expenses
No First-Time Job Seekers
Recent graduates and anyone hunting for a first job cannot deduct the costs. The deduction has always been for maintaining an existing career, not starting one.8Internal Revenue Service. Looking for a New Job? You May Be Able to Deduct Costs on Your Tax Return
No Substantial Break Between Jobs
If there’s a long gap between your last job and your current search, the IRS treats the search as the start of a new career. The tax code doesn’t set an exact number of months. The IRS Chief Counsel’s office has said the test is whether you maintained continuity and regularity of professional activity during the gap.9Internal Revenue Service. Office of the Chief Counsel Memorandum on Deductibility of Job Search Expenses A year off with no professional activity is the kind of break that disqualifies you.
What Expenses Count
For eligible filers whose search meets the rules above, the following costs are deductible:
- Resume preparation, printing, and postage.8Internal Revenue Service. Looking for a New Job? You May Be Able to Deduct Costs on Your Tax Return
- Employment agency and outplacement fees for finding work in the same field. If an employer later reimburses you, you must include the reimbursement in gross income.8Internal Revenue Service. Looking for a New Job? You May Be Able to Deduct Costs on Your Tax Return
- Travel to interviews: airfare, train, rental car, taxi, and lodging.10Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 511, Business Travel Expenses
- Meals during job search travel, at 50% of the unreimbursed amount.10Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 511, Business Travel Expenses
- Mileage on your own vehicle, either actual expenses or the IRS standard rate of 72.5 cents per mile for 2026.11Internal Revenue Service. 2026 Standard Mileage Rates
Trips that mix job hunting with personal activities get a “primary purpose” test. If the main reason for the trip was the job search, you can deduct the transportation to and from the destination plus job-search costs on the ground. If the trip was primarily personal, the transportation isn’t deductible, though specific on-site costs like a cab to an interview still are.12Internal Revenue Service. Publication 463 (2024), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses Keep dated receipts and a contemporaneous log tying each expense to a specific employer or agency contact; reconstructed records don’t hold up under examination.13Internal Revenue Service. Audits Records Request
Self-Employed Workers Are on a Different Track
The permanent elimination of miscellaneous itemized deductions only reaches employees. If you’re self-employed or an independent contractor, your business costs go on Schedule C and were never subject to the 2% floor or the TCJA suspension. Money you spend to keep or grow an existing business — networking, marketing, industry conferences — is an ordinary business expense under Section 162. Money you spend investigating a different line of business is a startup expenditure under Section 195 and must be amortized rather than deducted immediately.14Internal Revenue Service. Rev. Rul. 99-23, Start-Up Expenditures A freelance designer looking for more design clients deducts the costs now; the same designer looking into opening a restaurant does not.
Check Your State Return
Federal law isn’t the last word. Several states did not conform to the TCJA’s elimination of miscellaneous itemized deductions and still allow them on state returns. Rules vary: some keep the old 2% AGI floor, others set their own threshold, and a few allow full deductibility. If you paid meaningful job search costs, look at your state’s income tax instructions before you assume the money is gone.
What You Can Still Claim Instead
If you can’t deduct the search itself, two other provisions may help depending on your situation.
The Lifetime Learning Credit is worth up to $2,000 per year — 20% of the first $10,000 in qualified education expenses — for courses that help you acquire or improve job skills, including graduate and professional development classes.15Internal Revenue Service. Lifetime Learning Credit It’s available regardless of employment status, subject to income limits. It won’t cover resume printing or interview travel, but it can offset the cost of a certification or coursework tied to your next role.
Active-duty members of the Armed Forces moving under military orders can still deduct unreimbursed moving expenses or exclude reimbursed amounts from income.16Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 455, Moving Expenses for Members of the Armed Forces For everyone else, the moving deduction is gone at the federal level too. If you’re negotiating a new job, the practical route to recovering search and relocation costs is now the offer itself: signing bonuses, relocation packages, and employer-paid agency fees.