Are accounting and tax prep fees tax deductible?
The business part is. Bookkeeping and preparing your Schedule C are deductible; the part of the bill for your personal return is not.
The rule
Fees for bookkeeping, business tax advice and preparing the business schedules of your return are business expenses. Ask your preparer to split the invoice, or split it yourself by how much of the work was the business.
Legal fees for the business, contracts, collections, forming the LLC, are deductible the same way. Tax software counts by the same split.
The personal part of preparing your return isn’t deductible anywhere for most people.
Of a $600 bill for your return, the $450 for the Schedule C is deductible.
Priced at 36¢ on the dollar, the rate of a $95,000 sole proprietor in California. Work out yours.
- Where it goes
- Schedule C line 17, legal and professional services
- What to keep
- The invoice, split between business and personal.
Checked on September 25, 2026 against Instructions for Schedule C and Publication 334, Tax Guide for Small Business. An estimate for your records, not tax advice.
By the kind of work
What else each of these can deduct, and what they tend to miss.
See it on every receipt.
Snap it and Reimburse files it on the right Schedule C line, takes the deductible share and shows what it puts back.