Broker's Fee Tax-Deductible for Renter??

its not.

But even more important...WHY are you paying a broker fee for a rental in this market?

smacstein, there are properties that you can't get without a broker. I'm not talking about big rental buildings, but for instance, I rented in an owner-occupied brownstone in a prime area. There was no other way to get it without a broker who represents the owner on all of his rentals in his building for many many years. I've also rented in an established condo in another prime area, and that condo owner was represented by a broker. Now, I was able to minimize the broker fee, and I was able to negotiate some on the monthly lease. But someone was going to pay in those circumstances and I felt that both apartments, all-in, were fair market deals or better including the broker fee.

But to the bigger question, sarahegan, your instinct is correct, there's no deduction and there's no possible reason why there should be. It is a cost of your housing.

You can deduct moving costs if you move for work reasons more than 100 miles away. (get the exact rules from the IRS or your tax advisor)

Oops, I posted this on your duplicate thread. Reposting here:

You might be able to pull it off once as part of job-related moving expenses, but only if you're coming in from outside of the city, I think.

Per IRS:
"You will meet the distance test if your new workplace is at least 50 miles further from your former home than your previous workplace was from that home. For example, if your old job was 5 miles from your former home, your new job must be at least 55 miles from that home."
http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=173193,00.html

With a little creative accounting you might get away with it.

But why pay a fee? Try nybits.com. There is absolutely no reason to pay a broker's fee in this market.

Thanks, everyone - very helpful. I am now certain this broker doesn't know what she's talking about...
To your other point, evnyc and smacstein, I agree -- it feels silly to pay a fee in this market and I plan to negotiate, but I'm with oxycrew re: the owner-occupied brownstones and such (which is what we're looking at) -- for these types of apartments that are ONLY listed on brokers' sites and not on Craigslist and aren't part of large rental buildings, I'd love to hear some "success stories" from folks about what they've been able to negotiate re: fees.

evnyc: can you explain where those charges/fees are reported? I am using turbo tax but, it doesn't ask me any questions in moving expenses regading broker's fees.