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Tax return and green card costs
- Thread starter per123
- Start date
That would be nice, wouldn't it? But no, you can't. There has been some discussion by non-knowledgeable people on the possibility of invoking these costs as unreimbursed work expenses, but the truth is that you cannot deduct these as they are personal expenses. The employer usually pays the H-1b costs and may be able to deduct those from their taxes, but the green card process is voluntary, and is your own choice and hence not deductable.
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Hi!
Can we use the costs of H1B (and H4) visa applications and green card application (lawyer's fees, I-140 and I-485 fees) for the tax return?
Thanks
I did so last year, under itemized deductions, and plan to do it again.
Hi jk0274 ,
Well, because my OPT was expiring and I was not yet having an offer from the industry. I missed also the H1 deadline, and hence my only way to work was by self petitioning...
I think you may do this argument. What do you think? I was not audited any way. But I am planning this year to deduct my AP and EAD fees too again.
Well, because my OPT was expiring and I was not yet having an offer from the industry. I missed also the H1 deadline, and hence my only way to work was by self petitioning...
I think you may do this argument. What do you think? I was not audited any way. But I am planning this year to deduct my AP and EAD fees too again.
I don't see how you can give this argument... do you mean you are deducting it as un-reimbursed work expenses? Or something else? If it's un-reimbursed work expenses, you just admitted that you didn't even have an employer... I mean don't get me wrong, I see from some forums that some people do deduct these expenses, but there is no legal basis to do so, and if you are audited, you may have to pay these taxes back plus penalty.... if you are audited...
EAD I would think you can deduct, AP if your travel was for business purposes.
In the end you can be audited for upto 3 years (officially 7) and you can explain. If you filed your own taxes, just say 'oh I am sorry I did nt know that and how can I make it right?'. But sure work related unreimbursed expenses are deductible. Can we spin it in that way?
In the end you can be audited for upto 3 years (officially 7) and you can explain. If you filed your own taxes, just say 'oh I am sorry I did nt know that and how can I make it right?'. But sure work related unreimbursed expenses are deductible. Can we spin it in that way?
See this site by a CPA.
According to this CPA, no immigration-related expenses are tax deductible.
My opinion:
If you are filing under EB-2 (non-NIW) or EB-3, there is a good chance that your employer has paid your expenses anyway. If your job offer stated that these expenses would be paid by the employer, but somehow they did not pay for all or part of the process that you had to end up paying, then you may have a case for a deduction but only if you have proof that the employer was supposed to pay these expenses originally, e.g. in the form of an employment offer letter, etc.
If you are self-petitioning by your own choice (NIW or EB-1A/C), there is no basis for claiming these expenses as work-related expenses because 1- You chose to stay in the US and self-petition, regardless of whether this was the only way to remain in the country or not - you chose to stay and file this petition, and 2- these petitions are, by definition, not employer sponsored, so you can't argue that your employer was supposed to pay these but didn't (which is what un-reimbursed work expense deductions normally indicate) because your employer has no business in your petitions in the first place.
This also goes for EAD/advanced parole: These are documents that are issued to you on the basis of a self-filed petition; your employer never made you get them and doesn't care how or why you have them - all your employer cares about is that you are legally permitted to work regardless of what the background of that permission is. Arguing that getting a new or renewed EAD is a 'job related expense' is arguing that your entire presence in the US and your ability to work is required by your employer - but it isn't because you self-petitioned, remember? This is even more so for advanced parole - does your employer really request that you have advanced parole as part of your ability to work for them? Do they even know what AP is?
Now: You may have a case for Advanced Parole if a US citizen can claim their passport-processing fees as a job related expense for job related travel. If a US citizen is asked to travel abroad by her employer, and thus has to apply for her passport in order to perform this job-related duty, can she deduct such passport fees? Apparently she can if the travel is job-related, thus you can probably deduct AP fees for the same reason, again, assuming you were specifically assigned an overseas assignment by your employer and have proof of that in case of an audit. Otherwise, claiming AP as a job-related expense is not really valid.
Of course - different people get away with different offenses.... how many folks do you know who invited you for a "business" (wink wink) dinner that included your buddies and your parents?
According to this CPA, no immigration-related expenses are tax deductible.
My opinion:
If you are filing under EB-2 (non-NIW) or EB-3, there is a good chance that your employer has paid your expenses anyway. If your job offer stated that these expenses would be paid by the employer, but somehow they did not pay for all or part of the process that you had to end up paying, then you may have a case for a deduction but only if you have proof that the employer was supposed to pay these expenses originally, e.g. in the form of an employment offer letter, etc.
If you are self-petitioning by your own choice (NIW or EB-1A/C), there is no basis for claiming these expenses as work-related expenses because 1- You chose to stay in the US and self-petition, regardless of whether this was the only way to remain in the country or not - you chose to stay and file this petition, and 2- these petitions are, by definition, not employer sponsored, so you can't argue that your employer was supposed to pay these but didn't (which is what un-reimbursed work expense deductions normally indicate) because your employer has no business in your petitions in the first place.
This also goes for EAD/advanced parole: These are documents that are issued to you on the basis of a self-filed petition; your employer never made you get them and doesn't care how or why you have them - all your employer cares about is that you are legally permitted to work regardless of what the background of that permission is. Arguing that getting a new or renewed EAD is a 'job related expense' is arguing that your entire presence in the US and your ability to work is required by your employer - but it isn't because you self-petitioned, remember? This is even more so for advanced parole - does your employer really request that you have advanced parole as part of your ability to work for them? Do they even know what AP is?
Now: You may have a case for Advanced Parole if a US citizen can claim their passport-processing fees as a job related expense for job related travel. If a US citizen is asked to travel abroad by her employer, and thus has to apply for her passport in order to perform this job-related duty, can she deduct such passport fees? Apparently she can if the travel is job-related, thus you can probably deduct AP fees for the same reason, again, assuming you were specifically assigned an overseas assignment by your employer and have proof of that in case of an audit. Otherwise, claiming AP as a job-related expense is not really valid.
Of course - different people get away with different offenses.... how many folks do you know who invited you for a "business" (wink wink) dinner that included your buddies and your parents?
Thanks jk0274, I may have misunderstood this information last year when I prepared my tax. At that point and for some reason, I thought that legal expenes that are related to my work can be deducted.. I am not sure why I beleive in this at the time, I guess I was also reading some website... Thanks!