CFAI Exam Registration Tax Deductible in US? related, returns

dotamasta

can we deduct the exam and registration fees as CLE related on our tax returns even if we dont itemize?
any CPAs out there?

NakedPuts

This is a pretty grey area discussion. I’ve seen it discussed a few times in the general area and never seen a concrete consensus answer.

Chuckrox8

No, I did my own taxes this year and read the 1040 book in detail. The wording in the IRC is something on the line of an accredited degree granting university/education institue when filling out the for deduction portion of the 1040 form. CFA intstitute grants the right to use the CFA charter not a degree….so it would be really grey trying to use the CFA program for a deduction. What really scared me away was thinking of violating the Code of Ethics by representing the CFA program as a degree. Way too gray for me to touch. Probaly, only like a $50 rebate all said and done after you would apply their reduction equation.

OmarAdnan

I know you’re asking regarding the US, but for Canada a lot of people told me I couldn’t claim the CFAI and Schweser stuff for education. I even searched about it on here and some people said the same thing. F it, I claimed it and it worked. If I get audited by the CRA, I’ll be like “I didn’t know.”

Daniel1985

Yea I’m going to have two exam registrations in 2009 so I’m def claiming some of it. I actually overpaid on my taxes this year and the IRS notified me after they gave me my first refund, and sent me the difference…
so If i owe money bc I couldnt claim it, they’ll let me know and I’ll pay. If not, even better.

CFA4Techie

I would have to think you can claim the costs because you can claim cost for unreimbursed job related expenses…and considering this is something that is a job related expense then you should be able to claim it…you’re allowed to claim the cost of printing resumes, I do not see how you wouldn’t be able to claim the costs of taking the exam, the study materials, the calculator, even the cost to park at the test

Iginla2010

I wrote it off as unreim expenses, there is a section for licenses and certifications. This counts hardcore in that camp. If they disagree they can throw it out and I will pay taxes on the whopping $1k extra income.