Would income tax return filing fees be considered a tax liability on a divorce agreement

Posted by 20vtguy on March 28, 2009, 4:02 pm

Please log in for more thread options

I posed this question in misc.legal.moderated and they said it was
really more a tax question then a legal one and better posted here.
Hope someone here can help.

On my friends divorce agreement it states that the tax refund that he
and his now exwife filed jointly be dispursed with her getting 2/3rds
and him the remaining 1/3. As sucky as it is giving her the majority
of the refund it was the only way he could get her to sign the
agreement. But thats not the issue. There is a clause in the
stipulation pertaining to the disbursement of the tax refund that. The
quote is below:

"If any additional tax liabilities or interest is accrued by no fault
of either party then that sum is to be included in the final
disbursement amounts".

The reason for this question is, my friend paid the filing fees for
the taxes out of his pocket which amounted to $337. Can the tax return
filing fees be considered a tax liability and therefore is he entitled
to take the filing fees off the top as reimbursment before dividing up
the remainder of the refund? Or will he simply have to eat it?

Thanks in advance,
Adam

--
<< ------------------------------------------------------- >>
<< The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, >>
<< nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties >>
<< that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. >>
<< >>
<< The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts >>
<< to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy >>
<< are at www.asktax.org. >>
<< Copyright (2007) - All rights reserved. >>
<< ------------------------------------------------------- >>

Posted by paultry on March 28, 2009, 5:19 pm

Please log in for more thread options

20vtguy wrote:
Can the tax return filing fees be considered a tax
liability.... ?

No, tax prep fees are not a tax.

But surely his attorney allowed for payment of tax prep fees
when he/she addressed the tax refund issue in the settlement?

--
<< ------------------------------------------------------- >>
<< The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, >>
<< nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties >>
<< that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. >>
<< >>
<< The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts >>
<< to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy >>
<< are at www.asktax.org. >>
<< Copyright (2007) - All rights reserved. >>
<< ------------------------------------------------------- >>

Posted by 20vtguy on March 28, 2009, 8:07 pm

Please log in for more thread options

> 20vtguy wrote:

> Can the tax return filing fees be considered a tax

> liability.... ?

> No, tax prep fees are not a tax.

No unfortunately the lawyer he used was an idiot and did not state it
clearly in the agreement. But when I saw the clause I thought maybe it
would apply to filing fees as well so thats why I posed the question.
This was a messy divorce for him and he basically gave her everything
in order to get her to agree to sign the agreement. She would not even
accept the original offer of a 50/50 split of the refund and he had to
counter and give hr 2/3 of it before she would finally agree. He was
the sole income provider for her and her 4 kids, by 3 fathers I might
add, for the 2 years they were married. She lived on public assistance
her entire life until they married. He has no kids with her, thank God

> But surely his attorney allowed for payment of tax prep fees

> when he/she addressed the tax refund issue in the settlement?

--
<< ------------------------------------------------------- >>
<< The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, >>
<< nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties >>
<< that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. >>
<< >>
<< The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts >>
<< to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy >>
<< are at www.asktax.org. >>
<< Copyright (2007) - All rights reserved. >>
<< ------------------------------------------------------- >>

Posted by Dick Adams on March 29, 2009, 1:42 pm

Please log in for more thread options

>On my friends divorce agreement it states that the tax refund that he

>and his now exwife filed jointly be dispursed with her getting 2/3rds

>and him the remaining 1/3. As sucky as it is giving her the majority

>of the refund it was the only way he could get her to sign the

>agreement. But thats not the issue. There is a clause in the

>stipulation pertaining to the disbursement of the tax refund that. The

>quote is below:

> "If any additional tax liabilities or interest is accrued by no fault

>of either party then that sum is to be included in the final

>disbursement amounts".

>The reason for this question is, my friend paid the filing fees for

>the taxes out of his pocket which amounted to $337. Can the tax return

>filing fees be considered a tax liability and therefore is he entitled

>to take the filing fees off the top as reimbursment before dividing up

>the remainder of the refund? Or will he simply have to eat it?

No, prep fees are not a tax liability.

The bigger question is why is he getting a large tax refund?
This is also a good lesson in the value of competent attornies.
People who learn from their misjudgements are happier than
those who don't.

My best advice is to tell he that regardless of what he pay
to get out of the marriage, in return he owns the future.

Dick

--
<< ------------------------------------------------------- >>
<< The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, >>
<< nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties >>
<< that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. >>
<< >>
<< The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts >>
<< to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy >>
<< are at www.asktax.org. >>
<< Copyright (2007) - All rights reserved. >>
<< ------------------------------------------------------- >>