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Tax Deductions
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Fellowship Deductions

Help! I am doing our taxes and need confirmation whether some fees would be deductible this year. If all can be counted, I think we will exceed the 2% limit.

My husband is in his third and final year of a Pulmonology/ Critical Care Fellowship. He has employment secured for after Fellowship and we had an attorney review his contract. Is this attorney fee deductible? (He will be working as a Pulmonary and Critical Care Physician, so it is the same field he has been training in, though it is his first job out of training.)

I did see another post that his Pulmonary Board Exam should be deductible as it is a speciality exam that improves his skills as a physician--please confirm as it is a large amount and in itself tops the 2% limit.

My husband purchased study questions through Amazon for his ipad for this board exam. Does this qualify as work related educational study material that can be deducted?

He attended a review course for this Pulmonary Board exam that required a registration fee and travel (hotel, air fare, and meals). This was not required by his program, but was beneficial in furthering his education. Are the registration and travel costs deductible?

Thank you so much for your help!! Hope it may also help others in the same boat. This is an extremely valuable service that you are providing.

Zip Code: 76502

Re: Fellowship Deductions

I would say that all of those expenses would qualify as deductible professional expenses. However, if the pulmonary boards were the first exams your husband was taking to meet the minimum requirement to practice medicine, then those costs most likely would not be deducitble.

Remember, any time you do something that qualifies you for a new trade or business, those costs aren't deductible. That's why you don't deduct med school tuition as a professional expense.

Any time you do something that improves your skills in your current profession, that is deductible. Specialty board exams taken by a licensed physicisn would meet this threshold.

Hope this helps.

Zip Code: 01801