Tax Tips
The unravelling of a relationship often requires the assistance of a legal professional. As tax season approaches, you may want to consider if some of the legal fees you have paid to date are eligible to be deducted from your income. Where a recipient spouse has a right to receive support payments from the other spouse, there are some limited circumstances in which some of the recipient’s legal fees paid may be deductible. Unfortunately, the same is to not true for a payor spouse or for other general legal fees paid to obtain a divorce.
If you think that you may be eligible to seek a deduction for your legal fees, it is recommended that you seek advice from a tax professional.
Be sure to let your tax preparer know that you have separated and reach out to your lawyer to see which of the billings can be deducted. Your lawyer can often prepare a separate invoice for the time charged for legal representation for support payments.
More information is available on the government of Canada’s website: https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/cra-arc/formspubs/pub/it99r5-consolid/it99r5-consolid-e.pdf.
