I think your travel deduction will be limited to what it would cost for a flight from New York to Charlotte. Here is what I found on the IRS site in Publication 521, Moving Expenses:

Reasonable expenses. You can deduct only those expenses that are reasonable for the circumstances of your move. For example, the cost of traveling from your former home to your new one should be by the shortest, most direct route available by conventional transportation. If during your trip to your new home, you stop over, or make side trips for sightseeing, the additional expenses for your stopover or side trips are not deductible as moving expenses.

Example.

Beth's employer transferred her from Boston, Massachusetts, to Buffalo, New York. On her way to Buffalo, Beth drove into Canada to visit the Toronto Zoo. Since Beth's excursion into Canada was away from the usual Boston-Buffalo route, the expenses paid or incurred for the excursion are not deductible. Beth can only deduct what it would have cost to drive directly from Boston to Buffalo. Likewise, Beth cannot deduct any expenses, such as the cost of a hotel room, caused by the delay for sightseeing.


There is actually a second tax break to consider. Whenever you live in one city, take a job in a second city that will last for less than a year, and intend to return to the first city, you can treat the time in the second city as one long business trip. That means you can write off your travel back and forth, your lodging, and the daily rate for food. Does this apply to you?

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