Can you deduct immigration attorney fees

November 24, July 31, 0. Pay by Dec. Contracts drafted for a business entity. Contracts drafted for an individual not including sole proprietorship. Business Planning Session, or incorporation services. Topics: TurboTax Premier Online. Accepted Solutions. The basic rule is that you can deduct attorney's fees you pay to: produce or collect taxable income, or help determine, collect, or obtain a refund of any tax. Level In any event, you can only deduct an expense in the year you actually paid it.

Privacy Settings. Auto-suggest helps you quickly narrow down your search results by suggesting possible matches as you type. Here's where you would include these deductions on your business tax return:. If you have to amortize startup and organizational costs, you would include them in Other Expenses on your business tax return.

If you aren't sure which line of your return to use, check with your tax professional or use an online tax software program. Including legal and professional fees on your tax return is more difficult than it looks, because some of these expenses must be depreciated or amortized. Check with your tax professional or use an online tax software program. Reporting payments to attorneys is complicated. Starting with the tax year, payments to attorneys may be reported on one of two forms, depending on the type of payment:.

These are the payments for legal services, whether they are paid as a retainer or fee. These are payments made to an attorney that are not for legal services, but, for example, as in a settlement agreement. Use Form NEC to report these payments. This form is given to people you pay but who are not employees. You must give the form to the recipient and file the form with the iRS by January 31, after the end of the tax year.

This form lists the recipient's tax ID number and information about the name and address. If you have tax preparation fees for both your business and personal taxes, you'll need to separate the cost between the two portions of your return. For example, Schedule C for business income is part of your personal tax return if you own a small business. You can deduct the cost for a tax professional to prepare your Schedule C, but not the cost of preparing the rest of your personal tax return.

Use your business checking account or business credit card to pay for the business portion and your personal account for the personal portion. If the business and personal work are not so easily separated, you should estimate what percentage of the work is business-related, and pay only that percentage from your business account.