Many plaintiff attorneys are often held back from deferring their income to future tax years because of the belief that if they are not a partner in their firm, then they cannot defer their legal fees. If you have been holding back from deferring your legal fees because of this belief, you’ll be happy to know that this is a myth.

Depending on the nature of your relationship with your firm, you can defer whatever amount is due you for your role in working up that case — without the other members of the firm (or the partners) having to defer their income as well. It does not have to be a collective decision of the team – you can decide to defer your fees while they can opt to receive their legal fees as usual.

So, just because your firm’s partners may not want to participate in deferring their legal fees, it does not mean that you cannot defer your fees on a particular case — or series of cases. You do not need to be a partner in your law firm to defer your fees, so do not let this hold you back from deferring your income. 

If you are in a situation where you’re not a partner in your firm but you’d still like to defer your contingent legal fees to future tax years, give us a call. We can go into more detail about the overall process and answer any questions you may have.