Get Tax Credit for Job Search

  Many taxpayers spend  the summer months polishing their résumé and attending career fairs. If you are searching for a job this summer, you may be able to deduct some of your expenses on your tax return.

Here are the top six things the IRS wants you to know about deducting costs related to your job search.

1. In order to deduct job search costs, the expenses must be spent on a job search in your current occupation. You may not deduct expenses incurred while looking for a job in a new occupation.
   
   
2. You can deduct employment and outplacement agency fees you pay while looking for a job in your present occupation. If your employer pays you back in a later year for employment agency fees, you must include the amount you receive in your gross income up to the amount of your tax benefit in the earlier year.
   
   
3. You can deduct amounts you spend for preparing and mailing copies of a résumé to prospective employers as long as you are looking for a new job in your present occupation.
   
   
4. If you travel to an area to look for a new job in your present occupation, you may be able to deduct travel expenses to and from the area. You can only deduct the travel expenses if the trip is primarily to look for a new job. The amount of time you spend on personal activity compared to the amount of time you spend looking for work is important in determining whether the trip is primarily personal or is primarily to look for a new job.
   
   
5. You cannot deduct job search expenses if there was a substantial break between the end of your last job and the time you begin looking for a new one.
   
   
6. You cannot deduct job search expenses if you are looking for a job for the first time.
   

For more information about job search expenses, see IRS Publication 529, Miscellaneous Deductions. This publication is available on the IRS Web site, IRS.gov or by calling 800-TAX-FORM (800-829-3676).

Links:

• Publication 529, Miscellaneous Deductions
• Tax Topic 508, Miscellaneous Expenses
• Tax Topic 511, Business Travel Expenses

DOL Center to Provide Service

Financial Finesse, a free service providing financial information to consumers, recently completed its 2009 tabulation of calls to the center during the year. According to the report:

   * Consumers are showing signs of recovery but financial struggles are far from over. Debt calls decreased from 39% in Q4 2008 to 35% in Q4 2009.

    * They are taking steps to regain control of their finances. Budgeting and savings calls made up 34% of total calls in 2009 as consumers cut expenses and built their savings.

    * In 2009, calls on long-term planning fell even lower than in prior years while consumers continued to focus on day-to-day expenses.

To view the complete report or learn more about the center visit:

FINANCIAL FINESSE

As part of the federal government's first-ever nationwide legal settlement with a container glass manufacturer over Clean Air Act issues, all of the company's operating facilities, including one in Pevely, Mo., will be required to install an estimated total of $112 million in new air pollution control equipment.

In a consent decree filed today in U.S. District Court for the District of Washington, Saint-Gobain Containers, Inc., of Muncie, Indiana, has agreed to install the equipment at all of its operating facilities in 12 states, including the one in Missouri. The agreement covers all 15 of Saint-Gobain's plants, including two which have been closed by the company for independent business reasons.

As part of the settlement, Saint-Gobain has agreed to pay a $2.25 million civil penalty to resolve its alleged violations of the Clean Air Act’s new source review regulations.  Of the $2.25 million civil penalty, Saint-Gobain will pay $1.15 million to the United States and $1.1 million to the 10 states and two local regulatory agencies that joined the case. The State of Missouri will receive a $100,000 share of the settlement.

“Consistent with Administrator Lisa P. Jackson’s seven priorities, this settlement calls for tough new controls and innovative technologies to cut down on harmful air emissions that threaten the health of millions of Americans,” said Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance.

Nationwide, Saint-Gobain's installation of the pollution control equipment is expected to reduce emissions of nitrous oxide, sulfur dioxide and particulate matter by approximately 6,000 tons each year. At the Pevely plant, which includes two glass furnaces, the new controls are estimated to cost the company approximately $12 million, and are projected to reduce nitrous oxide emissions by 38 tons per year, sulfur dioxide by 201 tons per year, and particulate matter by 37 tons per year.

In the complaint filed concurrently with today’s settlement, the federal government and the 10 state and two local government plaintiffs alleged that Saint-Gobain constructed new glass furnaces or modified existing ones over the course of two decades without first obtaining pre-construction permits and installing required pollution control equipment.  The alleged violations were discovered as a result of an EPA investigation that included inspections, file reviews, information requests, and the review and analysis of data obtained from the company.