Funeral expenses can’t be deducted

On their joint tax return, a married couple deducted $27,400 in funeral and estate administration expenses they’d paid after the wife’s father died. The IRS denied the deductions and the U.S. Tax Court agreed. “Funeral expenses are clearly personal or family expenses” that are nondeductible, the court stated. The taxpayers said they’d relied on various IRS publications in claiming the deductions. The court explained their reliance on the publications was “misplaced” because they discussed different expenses.