Prohibition of deduction also applies to legal costs of a third party

The statutory prohibition of deduction also applies to legal costs of a relative that are assumed as part of a maintenance obligation.

The legal costs of a third party, for example a relative, are also not tax-deductible as an extraordinary expense. The Federal Fiscal Court denied a parent couple the deduction of their son's criminal defense costs with reference to the statutory prohibition on the deduction of legal costs, which is only breached if the taxpayer's existence is at risk. The Federal Fiscal Court left open whether the expenses for the son's defense were inevitable.