After being pulled over on a motorcycle and arrested for carrying a knife, a New York City man tried to claim the fees he paid a criminal lawyer as a business deduction on his tax return.
His tax preparer, Shelly Jacobson Taylor of SJ Associates, was skeptical at first, since expenses for criminal offenses typically aren't deductible. But he explained that he was an actor and had been on the way to a performance -- and the knife was a prop required for the play.
She let him take the deduction, and even when the IRS did come knocking and audited his return, he won the deduction.
