I wish to express my appreciation to "rjs Level 15" for your directions on how to enter legal fees regarding whistleblower/discrimination cases. They are not directly supported in TT, with the exception of this workaround. If I had to guess, I must have made over one hundred searches on-line, as well as Intuit searches-including speaking to live TT experts.
It appears that legal fees are/may also be 100% deductible for SSDI and LTDI and other claims against an employer if the award is taxable (or deductible proportionately depending upon your individual circumstances). Caveat: In these sorts of specialized cases, it's probably prudent to consult a well-informed professional tax law source. Also, it was recommended to me by a tax professional to include a written explanation along with your tax return in order to elaborate on the details of the legal fee deductions, as well as the resultant income awarded.
I would like to add an excerpt from the current tax code which may be helpful and seems to apply in the above cases:
Section 62(e) (18) defines an unlawful discrimination claim to include:
(18) Any provision of Federal, State, or local law, or common law claims permitted under Federal, State, or local law–
(i) providing for the enforcement of civil rights, or
(ii) regulating any aspect of the employment relationship, including claims for wages, compensation, or benefits, or prohibiting the discharge of an employee, the discrimination against an employee, or any other form of retaliation or reprisal against an employee for asserting rights or taking other actions permitted by law.
Regards,
