Employee legal fees to maintain legal status

[Dan5]

Can employee claim legal fees paid for Attorney, I-279 petition fees, ACWIA and other legal fees to maintain legal immigrant status as an employee business expense subject to 2% of AGI ?
Taxpayer is currently working legally in USA.

[erchess]

Hmmmmm

You might want to send a private message to NYEA if you don't get an authoritative answer to this question. Meanwhile here is what I think.

TTB does not directly answer your question in any passage I looked at.

As probably every person who will read this knows, legal fees to get or keep a job are deductible. For example, if you face criminal charges that if convicted will cost you your job you may deduct the legal fees. Now surely if your client got deported he could not keep his job. On the other hand the IRS might argue that he gets many benefits other than the ability to work from his legal status in this country.

Meanwhile, have you made sure that he is a Resident Alien.? He could be legal and have a green card without qualifying as a Resident Alien. If he is a Non Resident Alien, he needs to file F 1040 NR which I know nothing about. I do know that filing a regular 1040 when you should file a 1040 NR is grounds to be deported and barred from ever coming back. That sends a shiver down my spine every time I deal with an Alien because well, I hope I don't have to explain that to anyone who reads this.

[jainen]

That can't be right

>>if you face criminal charges that if convicted will cost you your job you may deduct the legal fees<<

That can't be right. Going to jail for anything is going to cost you your job. Just being in jail waiting for trial will, so bail is deductible?

>>He could be legal and have a green card without qualifying as a Resident Alien.<<

The can't be right. The official name is Permanent Resident Card.

>>If he is a Non Resident Alien, he needs to file F 1040 NR<<

That can't be right. If they've been here six months, legal or not, they probably meet the substantial presence test.

>>That sends a shiver down my spine every time I deal with an Alien because well, I hope I don't have to explain that <<

That can't be right. Can it?

[George Boutwell]

Yes, Deductible

>Going to jail for anything is going to cost you your job. Just being in jail waiting for trial will, so bail is deductible?<


Well, bail bond fees are deductible according to Money Mastery's online list. But then, you don't need a license to publish a tax book. I think the question involved legal fees, though, not bail bonds.


> The official name is Permanent Resident Card.<

But of course it's not green. I agree, all green card holders are resident aliens.


> If they've been here six months, legal or not, they probably meet the substantial presence test.<

There are all kinds of visa categories that allow presence here for many years but do not confer resident-alien tax status. Teachers, students and diplomats, for example.

>That sends a shiver down my spine every time I deal with an Alien because well, I hope I don't have to explain that<

Sort of like Don Imus explaining why it sends a shiver down his spine every time he has to deal with a basketball player.

[Dan5]

Taxpayer meets the substantial presence test so to my knowledge I can file regular 1040.

Thank you at least for some additional ideas.