What Is IRS Publication 521 on Moving Expenses?

IRS Publication 521 on moving expenses explains a deduction that, in 2026, is available only to two groups: active-duty members of the U.S. Armed Forces who move under a permanent change of station order, and, new this year, certain employees and new appointees of the intelligence community who relocate under qualifying orders.¹ Everyone else lost the deduction when the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act suspended it in 2018, and that suspension continues.² If an employer reimburses a civilian’s moving costs, that money is taxable wages on the W-2 and cannot be offset with a deduction.³

Who Can Deduct Moving Expenses in 2026

Active-duty service members qualify when the move is tied to a military order for a permanent change of station. This has been the rule since the TCJA took effect.²

The intelligence community expansion is new. Under the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act, signed July 4, 2025, certain intelligence community employees and new appointees who relocate can now be treated the same as Armed Forces members for purposes of this deduction.¹

If you don’t fall into one of those two groups, you can’t deduct moving expenses in 2026 no matter how far you moved or why.

What Counts as a Qualifying Move

For military filers, a qualifying move is one connected to a PCS. That covers a move from your home to your first post of active duty, a move between posts, and a move from your last post back home within one year of leaving active duty (or within the period the Joint Travel Regulations allow).¹

The deduction covers unreimbursed expenses for the service member, their spouse, and their dependents. A household member for this purpose is anyone whose main residence was both the old home and the new one. A tenant or an employee living in the home doesn’t count unless you can claim them as a dependent.⁴

Expenses You Can Deduct

Publication 521 limits the deduction to two buckets. Anything outside them doesn’t qualify.

Moving Household Goods and Personal Effects

You can deduct the reasonable cost of packing, crating, hauling, and transporting your belongings from the old home to the new one, plus insurance on the goods while in transit. In-transit storage is deductible for up to 30 consecutive days between when your things leave the old home and when they arrive at the new one.⁴

Travel to the New Home

Getting yourself and your household members from the old residence to the new one is deductible. That covers airfare, lodging along the route, and car expenses. Meals eaten during the trip are not deductible.⁵

If you drive, you can either track actual gas and oil costs or use the IRS standard mileage rate. For 2026, the moving mileage rate is 20.5 cents per mile.⁶ Keep a mileage log or the receipts either way.

Expenses You Cannot Deduct

Publication 521 and the Form 3903 instructions specifically exclude a long list of costs people commonly assume are covered:

Meals during the move
House-hunting trips before the move
Temporary living expenses at the new location while you look for permanent housing
Closing costs, mortgage fees, points, real estate taxes, and losses on the sale of the old home
Costs of entering into or breaking a lease
Home improvements meant to help sell the old home
Return trips to the former residence after the move
Security deposits, including any forfeited because of the move
Car registration, driver’s license, and similar fees at the new location

Storage beyond the 30-day in-transit window is also non-deductible for domestic moves.⁵

How to Claim the Deduction

Eligible filers use Form 3903, Moving Expenses. Line 1 captures transportation and storage of household goods, line 2 captures travel and lodging, line 3 totals them, and line 4 subtracts any government reimbursements that were excluded from your income. The result carries to Schedule 1 (Form 1040), line 14.⁷

This is an above-the-line deduction. It reduces your adjusted gross income whether you itemize or take the standard deduction, and a lower AGI can affect other tax benefits tied to that number.¹

How Reimbursements Are Treated

For active-duty military members moving under PCS orders, qualified moving and storage expenses that the government pays directly or reimburses are excluded from gross income entirely. You don’t report those amounts as wages, and the Department of Defense isn’t required to report them either.⁸ The same treatment now applies to qualifying intelligence community members for moves in 2026 and later.¹

No double-dipping. If the government covered a specific expense, you can’t also deduct it on Form 3903. Only unreimbursed qualified expenses are deductible, and reimbursements that were excluded from your income go on line 4.⁷

For everyone outside the military and intelligence community exceptions, employer-paid moving reimbursements are taxable wages on the W-2, with no deduction available to offset them.²

The Distance and Time Tests

Publication 521 describes two tests, the distance test and the time test, that historically gated the deduction for all taxpayers. Both are waived for active-duty military and qualifying intelligence community members whose move is tied to qualifying orders.⁸ So if you qualify at all in 2026, these tests don’t apply to you.

The distance test requires that your new workplace be at least 50 miles farther from your old home than your old workplace was, measured by the shortest commonly traveled route. If you had no prior job, the new workplace just needs to be at least 50 miles from your former home.⁸

The time test has two alternatives, and only one has to be met. Employees must work full-time for at least 39 weeks during the first 12 months after arriving at the new location. Self-employed filers must work full-time for at least 78 weeks during the first 24 months, with at least 39 of those weeks in the first 12 months.⁸

Moves To or From a Foreign Country

The same eligibility rules apply internationally. If you aren’t active-duty military or a qualifying intelligence community member, you can’t deduct the cost of moving to or from the United States for work.³ For eligible filers, the deductible categories are the same, though foreign moves have historically allowed longer storage periods than the 30-day domestic rule. You must be a U.S. citizen or resident alien to claim the deduction on any move involving a location outside the United States.⁹

1
Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 455, Moving Expenses for Members of the Armed Forces and the Intelligence Community
2
Internal Revenue Service. IRS Publication 521 – Moving Expenses
3
Internal Revenue Service. Moving Expenses to and From the United States
4
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 3903
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Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 3903
6
Internal Revenue Service. IRS Sets 2026 Business Standard Mileage Rate at 72.5 Cents per Mile, Up 2.5 Cents
7
Internal Revenue Service. Form 3903 – Moving Expenses
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 217 – Moving Expenses
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Internal Revenue Service. About Form 3903, Moving Expenses