Can I deduct legal fees to defend against a disciplinary allegations at work that could threaten my job?

[22509stack]

I have a teaching certificate, which could be revoked if I had lost my disciplinary case. 

[JaimeG · Accepted solution]

Yes you can deduct the legal fees:

"Legal fees to represent the taxpayer before a school board in order to protect the taxpayer’s current and future employment were deductible. (Remkiewicz, TC Memo 2001-1)"

The only twist to deducting the legal fees from your Individual Income Tax Return is that you must enter these deductions into Schedule A. This means that you must accumulate enough Itemized Deductions on Schedule A in order for it to be more beneficial than the Standard Deduction. At the moment the Standard Deduction amounts are

Married Filing Joint or Qualified Widow(er) $12600.00; Single $6300.00; Head of Household $9300.00; Married Filing Separate $6300.00

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