Legal fees

[Anonymous]

Are legal fees deductible in Schedule A for work my lawyer did in setting up a Revocable Trust?

[DoninGA]

No

[Opus 17]

Personal legal fees associated with earning income or preparing taxes are a miscellaneous itemized deduction subject to the 2% rule. That deduction was eliminated from federal taxes for 2018 through 2025. I believe you can still list the expenses in TurboTax, because some states follow the old rules about itemized deductions, and after you list the deductions in the federal section, they will flow downhill to the state return.   But they won’t be deductible on your federal return.  And you may not receive any benefit on your state tax return, depending on the total amount of your itemized deductions and your income.

Additionally, personal legal fees not associated with income or taxes are never deductible, before or after the 2018 tax reform.  You would have to determine what percentage of the trust fees are directly related to taxes and only deduct that percentage.