interview expenses

[amyl]

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does anyone know if our interview expenses are tax deductible? thanks

 

[pjm]

I am no tax advisor, but I am not sure how much deductions would help. For tax year 2007, most med students probably don't have income to deduct from. For tax year 2008, you just have half of an intern's salary.

The closest guidance the IRS gives is this pamphlet on job loss:
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p4128.pdf

which says:

If you travel to an area to look for work in your occupation or attend an interview you can generally deduct
the ordinary and necessary travel costs. The purpose of the trip must be considered. Trips that are
primarily personal are not deductible. For more information on how to compute your travel expenses, see
Publication 463, Travel, Entertainment, Gifts and Car Expense.

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p463.pdf

If you did make a few dollars in 2007, check out the Earned Income Tax Credit to see if you have extra money coming your way:
http://apps.irs.gov/app/eitc2007/SetLanguage.do?lang=en

 

[mmag]

This was covered in another post

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=6026827

Important points being
You cannot deduct these expenses if:
1. You are looking for a job in a new occupation,
2. There was a substantial break between the ending of your last job and your looking for a new one, or
3. You are looking for a job for the first time.

It seems that the problem with deduction is that we are looking for our first jobs. However I think we can deduct our interview expenses for advanced programs since we are going from resident (intern)=> resident and it's our second job search (internship being the first one).