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I have s Corp. I gave immigration attorney 2000 dollars for their fees so they can file work authorization for my employee. Can we deduct it as expense?

 
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I have s Corp. I gave immigration attorney 2000 dollars for their fees so they can file work authorization for my employee. Can we deduct it as expense?


@gkumar85 wrote:

Thanks for your quick response. My CPA is quoting from following link. I am not able to find anything on IRS website. Can you please shed some light on this?

 

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/taxes/discussion/is-uscis-employment-authorization-fees-are-deduct...


No offense to your CPA, but he/she is quoting from a link to a discussion in the TURBOTAX COMMUNITY and using THAT as authority?

 

How about requesting real authority, such as a cite to a Code section or Reg or IRS Rule?

 

Further, that community discussion could (a) be years old (it was transferred from the old board on June 1st - that is not the date of the post) and (b) the member answering the question could have meant the answer to be limited to a deduction by an employee. In addition, the link in that post takes you directly to an IRS web site which, as far as I can determine, says nothing about legal fees being deductible or nondeductible.

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10 Replies
Carl
Level 15

I have s Corp. I gave immigration attorney 2000 dollars for their fees so they can file work authorization for my employee. Can we deduct it as expense?

It's claimed/deducted in the tax year you paid it. In the expenses section there's a place for "Professional & Legal Fees" and that's where it would go.

 

I have s Corp. I gave immigration attorney 2000 dollars for their fees so they can file work authorization for my employee. Can we deduct it as expense?

You can deduct the fees.

 

In TurboTax Business: Federal Taxes tab>>Deductions>>Common Business Expenses>>Legal/professional fees.

gkumar85
New Member

I have s Corp. I gave immigration attorney 2000 dollars for their fees so they can file work authorization for my employee. Can we deduct it as expense?

As per my CPA, we cannot deduct. 

 

The IRS does not allow you to deduct USCIS fees from your income for tax purposes. Nor can you deduct the cost of legal representation for an immigration matter, as this expense does not meet the IRS guideline: a deductible expense must be directly related to the production of income.

I have s Corp. I gave immigration attorney 2000 dollars for their fees so they can file work authorization for my employee. Can we deduct it as expense?


@gkumar85 wrote:

As per my CPA, we cannot deduct. 


Just out of sheer curiosity, does your CPA have a cite to authority (Internal Revenue Code, Treasury Regulations, IRS rules, etc.) that states the fees are not deductible? I am not trying to be argumentative and could very well be wrong on this score.

 

Generally, however, all that is necessary for a deduction is that the expense be ordinary and necessary and related to running your business; fairly flexible language.

 

Note that there is a difference between a business expense incurred in the ordinary course of business and an expense incurred as an employee (or an expense incurred by a job applicant).

gkumar85
New Member

I have s Corp. I gave immigration attorney 2000 dollars for their fees so they can file work authorization for my employee. Can we deduct it as expense?

Thanks for your quick response. My CPA is quoting from following link. I am not able to find anything on IRS website. Can you please shed some light on this?

 

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/taxes/discussion/is-uscis-employment-authorization-fees-are-deduct...

 

He is sure about this. they have printed text from above link and gave it to me. They will not be able to do my business taxes because I have asked them to add this as legal expense. 

I have s Corp. I gave immigration attorney 2000 dollars for their fees so they can file work authorization for my employee. Can we deduct it as expense?


@gkumar85 wrote:

Thanks for your quick response. My CPA is quoting from following link. I am not able to find anything on IRS website. Can you please shed some light on this?

 

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/taxes/discussion/is-uscis-employment-authorization-fees-are-deduct...


No offense to your CPA, but he/she is quoting from a link to a discussion in the TURBOTAX COMMUNITY and using THAT as authority?

 

How about requesting real authority, such as a cite to a Code section or Reg or IRS Rule?

 

Further, that community discussion could (a) be years old (it was transferred from the old board on June 1st - that is not the date of the post) and (b) the member answering the question could have meant the answer to be limited to a deduction by an employee. In addition, the link in that post takes you directly to an IRS web site which, as far as I can determine, says nothing about legal fees being deductible or nondeductible.

I have s Corp. I gave immigration attorney 2000 dollars for their fees so they can file work authorization for my employee. Can we deduct it as expense?

Thanks for your response. My CPA and I were not able to come to agreement on this and decided to part our ways. Thanks for clearing my doubts. Appreciate it very much!

ThomasM125
Expert Alumni

I have s Corp. I gave immigration attorney 2000 dollars for their fees so they can file work authorization for my employee. Can we deduct it as expense?

In general, the CPA is correct, in that personal legal fees are not deductible. The issue here is whether the legal fees are associated with your business, in other words, are they a necessary and ordinary business expense?

 

Now lets say you paid for someone to go to school to get a degree so they could be qualified to perform a service you need in your company when they graduate. You could make an argument that it was a necessary business expense. However, in the eyes of the IRS it is not, because you could have just hired someone else who already has a degree, so the education you paid for was not necessary.

 

That is probably why your CPA did not agree with you, you could have just hired someone else, so the legal fees were not a necessary business expense.

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I have s Corp. I gave immigration attorney 2000 dollars for their fees so they can file work authorization for my employee. Can we deduct it as expense?

We appear to have a split of opinion between the "Experts", neither of which have offered any authority for their propositions.

 

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/taxes/discussion/is-uscis-employment-authorization-fees-are-deduct...

DawnC
Expert Alumni

I have s Corp. I gave immigration attorney 2000 dollars for their fees so they can file work authorization for my employee. Can we deduct it as expense?

Fees charged by accountants and attorneys that are ordinary and necessary expenses directly related to operating your business are deductible as business expenses.

This above reference is from the Professional and Legal Fees section of Publication 535. 

 

To be deductible, a business expense must be both ordinary and necessary.   An ordinary expense is one that is common and accepted in your trade or business. A necessary expense is one that is helpful and appropriate for your trade or business. An expense does not have to be indispensable to be considered necessary.  

 

As Champ tagteam has previously mentioned, the post by Lee M is not current and likely referring to the deductibility and limitations of an employee's deduction on a personal tax return.

 

Personal legal fees for USCIS matters are not deductible on a personal tax return, but business-related legal fees are deductible.  Your accountant and others may have not considered them ordinary and necessary, but as state above, Pub 535 uses fairly flexible language.

 

 

From the previously quoted USCIS website - As an employer, you may require the services of an alien to work at your company or business. If the individual is already a permanent resident (green card holder), you may hire that individual, but you must comply with the employment verification requirements.

 

If the alien is not already a permanent resident, you will need to file a petition so that the individual may obtain the appropriate immigrant or nonimmigrant classification.  You may choose to file an immigrant petition (permanent) or a nonimmigrant petition (temporary) on behalf of that employee

 

The expenses of the above requirements can be considered both ordinary and necessary expenses. 

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