[abhijeetw]

I am on H1B working visa in US. I live in an apartment and pay $900 as rent every month. Can I deduct the yearly rental amount from my taxable income when I file my taxes?If not, is there any other way to get tax benefit from my apartment rent?

Thanks for your help!

[MukatA]

Your apartment rent is your personal expense. No personal expense is deductible.

If you use a portion of your home for your office work and your employer agrees that it is required to do the job, then you will be able to deduct a part of your rent as employee business expenses as itemized deduction.

[AtlantaTaxExpert]

I believe that Abhijeetw is working under the assumption that rent is deductible as a daily living expense because his H-1B visa is considered a temporary work assignment.

That is one of the TAX MYTHS prevalent among H-1B workers.

The IRS does NOT consider the H-1B work assignment to be temporary in nature, simply because ANY work assignment expected to last more than one year is NOT TEMPORARY in the eyes of the IRS.

Since the average H-1B visa is usually three and can be up to six years in length, there is NO BASIS to support the argument that the job under a H-1B visa is temporary in nature.

BTW, this one-year restriction applies for U.S. citizens, resident aliens and non-resident aliens.