I am on a H1b visa in the US... my wife is a physician who is writing USMLE exams to get a residency in US... I was wondering if I can deduct all the usmle exam fees + costs of applying to residency programs (close to $5000) as expenses on my taxes?

I also paid for the attorney fees to get my h1b processed. I was wondering if these fees are tax deductible ? If I paid the fees in 2005 can I claim them for 2006 taxes?


Thanks in advance for your replies.

The H-1B fees are deductible only as employee business expenses, which will require that you itemize to claim them. You can only deduct the fees in the year you paid them.

The same logic applies to the USMLE fees and residency application costs; I believe that they are valid emplyee business expenses. However, as noted above, you have the same restrictions in that you MUST itemize to claim them.

If you need my professional tax help, contact me at [email protected].

Thanks for your reply Atlantaexpert. You mentioned "you believe the usmle fees are valid emplyee business expenses"... Are you 100% sure? Can you point me to an IRS publication that says that?. I do itemize my deductions every year.

Upon further consideration, the USMLE fee is considered an expense for initial qualification for a profession and would NOT be deductible.

Sorry!

No you can not deduct usmle exam fees + costs of applying to residency programs.
Also you can not deduct attorney fees for H1-B.