[sunshinestate]

I own a home in NJ and work in NY city. As of June 1 2009 I will be working out of our Miami FL office and renting an apt. there. We presently have a NY office and a FL office but the decision was made to close our NY office. Employees were offered the opportunity to remain with the company and move down to Florida. My plan is to keep my home in NJ where my wife and two college age children will remain and I will rent an apartment in Florida and work down there. I plan to fly home every 2 or 3 weeks or so. I am faced with these additional expenses (rent, airfare, etc.) over and above my "reasonable and customary" ones while working in NY.

Am I entitled to take any tax deductions for these business related items such as cost of travel back home to visit or rental expense or any other expenses of that nature? I consider this move to be one that was out of my control as it was a company decision and not mine, and in the present economic climate, forced to remain with the company as the job market is very shaky at present. Can I benefit from any tax writeoffs in this scenario?
Thank you.

[AtlantaTaxExpert]

Not really. The decision to move to your work location in Miami and keep your home in NJ is a PERSONAL decision.

Any attempt to deduct the costs of maintaining the "temporary" apartment and deduct your daily living expenses in Miami will eventually draw the scrutiny of the IRS. Once they determined the circumstances, they would disallow all of the expenses, and the resultant tax bill would be onerous.