Is INS fees Tax deductible ??

E

eventually

Registered Users (C)
Wondering, If we are going to pay Fees for AP, EAD, (& for spouses where ever applicable) year by year ... that amounts to quite a bit of sum total ..

Wish that is tax deductible .. :D

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wac02-80
 
Y'know it probably is ..

Once my CA told me that the fee you pay to DMV is tax deductible (I was shocked).
 
If you itemize your expenses probably it is tax deductible (all work related expenses are..)

- PCee
 
state income tax deduction is fundamental. If not you will pay tax over tax!

anyway, I think you can deduct these items making them work expense - some might think this is a stretch. If you can go itemized, it may work. I dont know anyone that tried - even HRblock.
 
i don't think so

lets reason thru this.

DMV fees are something every american pays. making that a tax dedictible is a good move for a politician.

INS fees only immigrants pay. Who gives a shit about immigrants? No one - which is why you've been waiting for 2+ years with your life on hold - you think some politician cares about your fees and makes them deductible.

I'd be very surprised if they were deductible - but understand that the fees are getting significant with payouts for EAD etc. - it all adds up to a few thousand dollars. thats a lot. Worth more than your life for 2 years? I dont think so.

QED.
 
work related expenses are deductible irrespective of whether you are a US citizen or not - getting your EAD is a work related expense and you can deduct it in your itemized return - including the fees paid to your lawyer. I did not deduct INS fees because company paid for it.

If you are in consulting, you can deduct mileage, laundry (dry cleaning), lunch (with client aka friend), buying books and attending software training classes etc. I have deducted all of these expenses. It costs IRS more to audit than mail you a refund, as long as your expenses are not exaggerated.
 
Re: i don't think so

Originally posted by long_wait_4_gc
lets reason thru this.
INS fees only immigrants pay. Who gives a shit about immigrants? No one - which is why you've been waiting for 2+ years with your life on hold - you think some politician cares about your fees and makes them deductible.
QED.
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As far as the IRS is concerned, they have 1040 EZ, 1040 etc. They do not have a special form for immigrants/citizens/non-immigrants and I always prepare the taxes myself - no auditor, no tax software. Just pencil and paper and the irs.gov web site. I have been filing manually for several years (itemized, non-itemized, relocation (I claimed relocation from India to US (big bucks in refund) for self and spouse as a job related re-lo) and I do not know of any sections of tax laws that are applicable just for immigrants.

Please let me know if you have some links/info so that I can educate myself.
 
Lots of things are tax deductible

1. Car registration
2. If u work from home all your home office expenses like Internet, Phone ....

3. All immigration expenses.
4. Books you buy for your work related and don't get reimbursed or don't want too..

Tons of other things.


Never heard that your State Tax is also tax deductible, Confused????
 
Thanks for your replies, guys..

1. State tax & county tax (local tax) are deductible ..

2. DMV.. yeah deductible

3. Moving expenses, surely deductible ..

4. INS fees (when employer pays the fees, we dont need to worry) for family based ones, (or even my employer is refusing to pay for spouse's EAD/485) I havent heard anyone claiming INS Fees so far ..

Will post the results if I find any more info ..

Isamp, did you explore 1040 NR ??

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wac2080
 
Originally posted by eventually
Isamp, did you explore 1040 NR ??
Click to expand...
Yes, 1040 NR is for non-resident aliens and the way IRS determines NR is different and usually if you are present for 31 days in a tax year and 180 days combined in the prev 3 calendar years, you are a resident for tax purposes.

NR - It may be applicable only for the first year of residency in the US. Even then I used 1040 EZ as it was more favorable to me and its been 5 years since then and no questions from IRS yet.
 
I know this is an old thread. But does anyone have deducted ins fees ? what about lawyer fees?

I have paid INS atleast 500$ last year for EAD and AP. Why not get tax benefit out of it ..........
 
I paid $1000 for my H1-B premium processing, by any chance can I claim the tax benefit for this?
 
everybody is a lawyer, doctor, CA.... all the speciality in one person. you ask anything and you get tons of replies.

here are my 2 cents.

1. If you don't itemize, forget about most deductions. In general, you don't pay mortgage, nothing is tax deductible because you would rather take standard deduction.
2. If you itemize, state tax, part of what you pay to DMV, mortgage interest, county taxes etc. are deductible. Any refund from state from last years return is taxable this year.

(someone mentioned here that state tax deduction is fundamental...why would you pay tax twice... blah blah ha ha ...
what about social security tax, medicare tax... you din't find them fundamental ?... you can not deduct these...)

3. medical expenses over 2% or of income are generally deductable (if spent on qualified dependents).
4. Tax preparation, Immigration exp. etc. fall under misc. deductions. Meaning part of these all expenses over 7% (please check the number. never bothered about this because it is highly unlikely that you would ever exceed that percentage ) of of income is deductible. Therefore, for most, these deductions will be useless. If you run small business, probably you could deduct them all as business expenses (if you could show that it was a reasonable expense to run your business).
5. I use turbo tax, read lots of stuff throught the year. If you are not confortable or confused about something, I would suggest you to visit a tax consultant. Two advantages: 1. he might save you some money or/and 2. he might save you from falling into audit trap. For most people here, turbo tax should be more than enough. If you have only w-2 income, don't pay mortgage and don't trade stocks, I will call you stupid if you go to a tax consultant for return preparation. I can do your taxes in less than 5 minute and so can you (unless of course you did not buy your grad/undergrad degree from street :) ).

enjoy tax time.
 
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Lareds,

thanks for bringing this issue up before we file our tax returns .. You probably can get the answers directly from horse's mouth .. and horse's mouth can be found at:

http://www.irs.gov/help/page/0,,id=120294,00.html

Some of us cannot deduct this, if our employer is paying the fees..

If any of you get any answer from IRS .. please post the reply in this thread .. we all can make us of the information (maybe, BCIS will act fast on our 485 cases partly beacuse of IRS pressure, if immigration fees are deductible)

thanks
 
Originally posted by goodsaint

4. Tax preparation, Immigration exp. etc. fall under misc. deductions. Meaning part of these all expenses (I guess) over 7% of of income is deductible. If you run small business, probably you could deduct them all as business expenses (if you could show that it was a reasonable expense to run your business).
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply. But one can deduct misc expenses if its over 2 % of AGI (not 7%). And I am nowhere close to that amount.

If someone has substantial misc deductions and itemize ( instead of standard deduction), they could consider including the INS/Lawyer fee for EAD app (AP will be a strech)
 
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