@hszettler wrote:
It was a business litigation, however income was low in 2019 & I don't need the large legal deduction in 2019. When settlement is made in 2020 I will beed the deduction. Can I legally hold off in deducting the legal fees until 2020?
You're not supposed to. If you end up with a net operating loss you can carry that forward to 2020.
My only concern, which is mostly hypothetical, is that, if keeping your income looking better for 2019 ends up qualifying you for tax credits that you wouldn't get otherwise, or if you use your 2019 tax return to qualify for a loan that you wouldn't get if you showed the expenses, you can potentially get into tax and legal trouble.
