Submitted By: Marcella
Answered: September 2, 2016 12:21 pm

My husband died and I had large legal fees to settle his estate. Are the legal fees deductible?

Legal fees paid by an estate are deductible by the estate for estate tax purposes. If you paid the fees out of your own pocket, the estate can reimburse you. If you don’t seek reimbursement, you will be out of luck; the legal fees aren’t deductible on your personal income tax return.

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Tax Glossary

Statutory employees

Certain employees, such as full-time life insurance salespersons, who may report income and deductions on Schedule C, rather than on Schedule A as miscellaneous itemized deductions.

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