What this line means
The cost of traveling from your old home to your new home, including lodging along the way. This covers gas, tolls, parking, airfare, and hotel stays during the trip. Meals are never deductible as moving expenses — not for military, not for anyone. This line applies only to active-duty members of the Armed Forces moving under a permanent change of station (PCS) order.
Does this apply to you?
- You are an active-duty service member who drove to your new duty station and paid for gas, tolls, or parking
- You flew to your new duty station and paid for airfare out of pocket
- You stayed in hotels or motels during the trip from your old home to your new home
- You paid travel costs for members of your household who made the same move
Easy to overlook
Travel costs for your entire household count You can include travel and lodging expenses for every member of your household moving from the old home to the new duty station — not just yourself. If your spouse and children flew separately or drove a second vehicle, those costs belong on this line too. Service members often claim only their own travel and leave the family’s costs off the form. 1 IRS Form 3903 Instructions — Moving Expenses
Standard mileage rate as an alternative to actual gas costs If you drove, you can use the IRS standard mileage rate for moving instead of tracking actual gas and oil expenses. For 2025, the rate is 22 cents per mile. You still add tolls and parking on top of the mileage amount. Many service members who drove a POV across the country do not realize they can pick whichever method — actual expenses or mileage rate — gives them the larger deduction. 2 IRS Publication 3 — Armed Forces’ Tax Guide
Watch out for this
Do not include meals anywhere on this form. The IRS explicitly excludes meals from deductible moving expenses. It does not matter if you ate at a restaurant during an overnight stop on a cross-country PCS drive — that meal cost is not deductible. Filers who lump meals into their travel expenses risk having the entire line questioned.
Footnotes
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IRS Form 3903 Instructions, Moving Expenses. https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i3903 ↩
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IRS Publication 3, Armed Forces’ Tax Guide, Chapter 12. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p3.pdf ↩