Good evening. Thank you so very much for making this forum available.

Is there any way to benefit from these expenses if we do not itemize (board exam fees w/ associated travel expenses, and Osler board review course w/ associated travel)?

My husband is in his final year of residency this year.

Thanks again.

Generally, there are only two ways to deduct these costs. You can either deduct the money you spent during the year as a professional expenses directly against any moonlighting income on a Schedule C, or you can claim them as an unreimbursed professional expense on a Form 2106.

On the Schedule C, your professional expenses are 100% deductible. On the 2106, they are only allowable to the extent they exceed 2% of your income, and then only if you itemize your deductions.

So in your case, unfortunately, it appears you might not be able to get any tax break from the money spent last year on your professional expenses. The one opportunity you might have is if you will begin moonlighting in 2009. In that case, you can prepare a Schedule C showing no income, but claiming some of your 2008 expenses. This would work, however, if you began moonlighting early in 2009.

Zip Code: 01801

Thank you so much for your help. I had been doing a lot of digging on this issue, and was only getting more & more confused. Now I can move forward . . .