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Temporary Job Assignments
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Re: Temporary Assignment Required to complete residency

To qualify for the Temporary Job Assignment deduction, you need be working in one city, then move to another city to work for one year or less with the intent to return to the first city at the end of the job assignment. Since you took a 3 month job assignment in Boston, it sounds as if you returned to the city where you were living prior to that assignment, so it seems you would qualify for this tax deduction.

When deducting your meals on a business trip outside the general vicinity of where you live, you have two options. You can either base your deduction on the actual cost of the meals or you can base the deduction on the Per-Diem Rates. A listing of the Per-Diem Rates can be found at http://www.gsa.gov/portal/category/21287. For you, the easiest thing to do would be to multiply the number of days you were in Boston by the allowable per-diem deduction of $71 per day.

Please note that you deduction for Meals, Entertainment and Incidentals is generally only 50% deductible. That holds true if you are basing your deduction on actual expenses or on the per-diem rates.

Finally, to prepare your state returns correctly if you are claiming a temporary job assignment, you should file as a resident of the state where you lived before and after the temporary job assignment, and file as a non-resident of the state of the short-term assignment.

I hope this helps. I do have one question for you. You started your question by stating, "I had to spend 3 months in Boston ..." As someone from Boston, I think a more appropriate first sentence would have gone something like this, "I had the wonderful opportunity to spend 3 months in Boston..." (Just kidding of course.) I hope you enjoyed your time in Boston.

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