Is Investment Advisory Fees Tax Deductible In 2022?

Table of Contents

Introduction

There has been a lot of confusion around the topic of Investment Advisory fees. Many people wonder whether they are eligible for Investment Advisory fees deduction or not. Well, if you also have these questions, you’re on the right page. This article will guide you on whether Investment Advisory Fees are tax-deductible or not, how can you gain benefits from them, and so on. Let’s check it out.

What Is Investment Advisory?

An Investment advisory is a firm or an investment organization that offers investment advice. In other words, professionals provide you with investment advice. Also, they take care of your investments and, you can invest in a proper manner. You have to eventually pay fees on the Investment advisory services. The Investment Advisers Act of 1940 regulates this form. It defines the role and responsibilities of an investor.

It’s a company that gives investment advice or guidance to investors for a charge. Investment advisory services may interact with a customer. He could provide general advice on whether stocks are bullish or bearish, which investment plans will yield better returns in the future. Investment advice services that contain a particular amount of money must register with the SEC.  The Investment Advisers Act of 1940 governs the operations of all investment advisory services. Accordingly, providing false or misleading information is unfair. As well as selling or buying their stocks to or from a customer, is a criminal violation. 

Older Rules For Investment Advisory Fees Deductions

Earlier, there were tax deductions allowed on the investment advisory fees. You had a chance to claim deductions on Investment management fees and financial planning fees. This claim could only be to the extent of 2% on your AGI (Adjusted Gross Income). If you want your deduction amount, just take 2% of your AGI and subtract it from the total expenses.

For example, consider your AGI in the year 2017 was $1,00,000 and your investment advisory fees were $4,000. Basically, as per the U.S tax rules, you can claim a deduction if the amount of your fee exceeds 2%(2,000). Here, since the fees are $4000, you can claim a deduction in excess of $2000.

Is Investment Advisory Fees Tax-Deductible In 2022?

Before, investment fees and trading commissions were tax-deductible on your annual returns, but that is no longer true. Investment-related tax deductions were among the various deductions abolished by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) in 2018. Those provisions will expire at the end of 2025, which might restore those tax reliefs in 2026.

An Image showing Investment advisory and tax related documents
Source : Photo by Nataliya Vaitkevich

However, in 2017, there were tax deductions on IA fees. You have three years from the day you submitted your tax return to alter it. Or two years from the date you paid any subsequent tax, whichever is later. And, the TCJA gets slated to expire at the end of 2025 unless Congress renews it. You could take a deduction on the investment advisory fees on your tax return only if it has exceeded more than 2% of your adjusted gross income. You can pay investment management fees structured as a percentage of assets straight from your managed IRA account. For example, imagine you have $6 million in an IRA (Individual retirement account )and $2 million in a non-retirement account and pay 1% in fees per year. The $6,000 related to the IRA can get deducted, but the $2,000 associated with the non-IRA account cannot. 

Effect On Losing Tax Deduction On Investment Advisory Fees

Now that you know that investment advisory fees aren’t tax-deductible currently, there is some loss you will face because of this change in tax law. Let’s see how it gets affected. So, let’s say you have $5,00,000 in IRA accounts and $5,00,000 in the other accounts. If you are paying fees from IRA accounts, you are already getting deductions by not having to pay taxes on those amounts used to pay fees from the IRA.

However, if you are paying $5,000 from the other accounts, it will be deductible. Like as per the earlier act, investment advisory fees were tax-deductible up in excess of 2%. You were getting tax benefits on your fees, but that’s not the case now. You’re losing on that advantage and you can only gain from it when the TCJA act renews it.

What Can You Deduct As An Investor?

Although investment advisory fees are not deductible in 2022, there is an 80% chance that they will be deductible after 2025(i.e in 2026). So, it is important for you to know the types of investment items that are tax-deductible. Firstly, if you’re investing in a 401k, you have the benefit of deducting these contributions from your taxable income. 401k is basically a retirement plan that employers offer to employees. Also, contributions made to the Health Savings account are also tax-deductible. Besides that, even Investment interest expenses remain tax-deductible under the TCJA.

Likewise, you might be able to deduct contributions made to a traditional IRA. If you are covered through a retirement plan from work, you have a chance to deduct the full amount under certain conditions;

  • You are single and head of the house and your modified AGI is $65,000 or less.
  • You’re married, file jointly and your modified AGI is $1,04,000 or less.
  • You’re a qualified widow with an AGI of $1,04,000 or less.

Married couples filing separately won’t be eligible for a full deduction. But, there is a partial deduction possible. Similarly, if you are single, head, or married and your wife isn’t covered through any retirement plan, you can claim the full amount in spite of any income.

Conclusion 

Investment advisory fees were an important element of the tax deductions in early 2018, but not now. It depends on the new government that will take power in 2026 and decides whether they should impose tax deductions on Investment Advisory fees or not. Unless the TCJA doesn’t renew, there are likely fewer chances of claiming tax deductions on the investment advisory fees. If this happens, it will encourage more people to approach an investment advisory and seek their advice. In this article, we have tried to answer your question, Is investment advisory fees tax deductible or not, along with the effect of this new law on your ROI.

We, hope this article was useful to you. If you have any questions regarding investment advisory fees, you can comment down below.

FAQs

The Investment advisor charges fees on the assets you own. The average rate of an advisor ranges from 0-2%. In addition to this, there is also a charge implied on the profits you earn. The typical investment advisory fees basically range from 4-10%. A smaller account often pays higher fees. But if you’re paying excess advice fees for a larger portfolio ($1,000,000 or more), you should receive additional services.

No. Although both are of same material, they are different from each other. An Investment advisor tries to analyze, and give reports on your investments as to which is a better option. A financial advisor gives you advice on your financial condition like how much you should save whereas investment advisor will give you options where you can invest. 

Although individuals and investors can’t gain deduction on Investment advisory fees, trusts can. As per the tax code, it allows trusts to deduct these expenses in full, provided the expense is unique to the trust. Unique in the sense that if an advisor provides advice that is beyond what is provided to other individuals, then it is deductible to full extent.