Are legal expenses (for employment advice and Sarbanes Oxley matters) paid during 2006 deductible from taxes?

Question

In an effort to promote the continuation of my own tax generating income by defending myself against blatent attempts to wrongfully terminate my employment, I engaged the services of an attorney to counsel me on how to keep my job and to directly negotiate with my employer on my behalf for the same purpose. This led to further attempts by my employer to retaliate against me by continuing to set me up to get fired. My attorney then advised that provisions contained in the recently passed Sarbanes Oxley legislation would protect me against these wrongful actions and further advised that I should file a Sarbanes Oxley complaint against my employer so that I would either keep my job and thereby continue earning or be awarded substantial additional taxable income from my employer.

Answer 1

Legal fees related to the generation of income and the preparation of tax returns are deductible on a personal return. A consultation on employment law probalby would not be deductible unless you were the employer.

Sarbox issues would be strictly related to a publicly traded company and would be deductible by that company. They would not apply to a personal return, however, as Sarbox has nothing to do with a personal income tax return.