A Unique Opportunity for Contingent Fee Lawyers to Tax Plan for Tomorrow
An often-overlooked issue for plaintiff attorneys is the management of taxation of their own contingent legal fees.
An often-overlooked issue for plaintiff attorneys is the management of taxation of their own contingent legal fees.
Attorneys have a unique opportunity, not available to others who earn professional fees, to take their contingent legal fees and invest them on a pre-tax and tax-deferred basis to smooth out their income. This article answers some frequently asked questions about attorney fee structures and deferral of contingent legal fees.
March 11, 2021 Anthony F. Prieto, Jr., CFP® Trial lawyers have been deferring fees into structured settlement products dating back to the early 1990s. The IRS challenged fee structure arrangements in Childs v. Commissioner.[1] In this seminal 1994 tax case, the IRS argued the fees should be taxed in the year earned; however, the lower […]