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Personal Expenses That Are Not Deductible: Federal Income Tax (2025 IRS Guide)

This guide covers “Personal Expenses That Are Not Deductible” within federal income tax. The following material presents the IRS treatment of this topic, including the qualifications, exceptions, and examples in the source section. Read the rules alongside the facts of your own situation before deciding what to report, deduct, or document.

Adapted from Publication 17 (2025), Your Federal Income Tax, published by the Internal Revenue Service. This guide retains the source edition’s years, amounts, deadlines, and examples. It is guidance for that edition, not a statement that the same figures apply to every tax year.

Personal Expenses That Are Not Deductible

  • Adoption expenses.

  • Broker’s commissions.

  • Burial or funeral expenses, including the cost of a cemetery lot.

  • Campaign expenses.

  • Capital expenses.

  • Check-writing fees.

  • Club dues.

  • Commuting expenses.

  • Fees and licenses, such as car licenses, marriage licenses, and dog tags.

  • Fines or penalties.

  • Health spa expenses.

  • Hobby losses, but see Hobby Expenses, earlier.

  • Home repairs, insurance, and rent.

  • Home security system.

  • Illegal bribes and kickbacks.

  • Investment-related seminars.

  • Life insurance premiums paid by the insured.

  • Lobbying expenses.

  • Losses from the sale of your home, furniture, personal car, etc.

  • Lost or misplaced cash or property.

  • Lunches with co-workers.

  • Meals while working late.

  • Medical expenses as business expenses other than medical examinations required by your employer.

  • Personal disability insurance premiums.

  • Personal legal expenses.

  • Personal, living, or family expenses.

  • Political contributions.

  • Professional accreditation fees.

  • Professional reputation improvement expense.

  • Relief fund contributions.

  • Residential telephone line.

  • Stockholders’ meeting attendance expenses.

  • Tax-exempt income earning/collecting expenses.

  • The value of wages never received or lost vacation time.

  • Travel expenses for another individual.

  • Voluntary unemployment benefit fund contributions.

  • Wristwatches.

Adoption Expenses

You can’t deduct the expenses of adopting a child, but you may be able to take a credit for those expenses. See the Instructions for Form 8839, Qualified Adoption Expenses, for more information.

Campaign Expenses

You can’t deduct campaign expenses of a candidate for any office, even if the candidate is running for reelection to the office. These include qualification and registration fees for primary elections.

Legal fees.

You can’t deduct legal fees paid to defend charges that arise from participation in a political campaign.

Check-Writing Fees on Personal Account

If you have a personal checking account, you can’t deduct fees charged by the bank for the privilege of writing checks, even if the account pays interest.

Club Dues

Generally, you can’t deduct the cost of membership in any club organized for business, pleasure, recreation, or other social purpose. This includes business, social, athletic, luncheon, sporting, airline, hotel, golf, and country clubs.

You can’t deduct dues paid to an organization if one of its main purposes is to:

  • Conduct entertainment activities for members or their guests, or

  • Provide members or their guests with access to entertainment facilities.

Dues paid to airline, hotel, and luncheon clubs aren’t deductible.

Commuting Expenses

You can’t deduct commuting expenses (the cost of transportation between your home and your main or regular place of work). If you haul tools, instruments, or other items in your car to and from work, you can deduct only the additional cost of hauling the items such as the rent on a trailer to carry the items.

Fines and Penalties

Generally, no deduction is allowed for fines and penalties paid to a government or specified nongovernmental entity for the violation of any law except in the following situations.

  • Amounts that constitute restitution.

  • Amounts paid to come into compliance with the law.

  • Amounts paid or incurred as the result of certain court orders in which no government or specified nongovernmental agency is a party.

  • Amounts paid or incurred for taxes due.

Nondeductible amounts include an amount paid in settlement of your actual or potential liability for a fine or penalty (civil or criminal). Fines or penalties include amounts paid such as parking tickets, tax penalties, and penalties deducted from teachers’ paychecks after an illegal strike.

No deduction is allowed for the restitution amount or amount paid to come into compliance with the law unless the amounts are specifically identified in the settlement agreement or court order. Also, any amount paid or incurred as reimbursement to the government for the costs of any investigation or litigation are not eligible for the exceptions and are nondeductible.

Health Spa Expenses

You can’t deduct health spa expenses, even if there is a job requirement to stay in excellent physical condition, such as might be required of a law enforcement officer.

Home Security System

You can’t deduct the cost of a home security system as a miscellaneous deduction. However, you may be able to claim a deduction for a home security system as a business expense if you have a home office. See Security system under Figuring the Deduction in Pub. 587.

Investment-Related Seminars

You can’t deduct any expenses for attending a convention, seminar, or similar meeting for investment purposes.

Life Insurance Premiums

You can’t deduct premiums you pay on your life insurance. You may be able to deduct, as alimony, premiums you pay on life insurance policies assigned to your former spouse. See Pub. 504, Divorced or Separated Individuals, for information on alimony.

Lobbying Expenses

You generally can’t deduct amounts paid or incurred for lobbying expenses. These include expenses to:

  • Influence legislation;

  • Participate or intervene in any political campaign for, or against, any candidate for public office;

  • Attempt to influence the general public, or segments of the public, about elections, legislative matters, or referendums; or

  • Communicate directly with covered executive branch officials in any attempt to influence the official actions or positions of those officials.

Lobbying expenses also include any amounts paid or incurred for research, preparation, planning, or coordination of any of these activities.

Dues used for lobbying.

If a tax-exempt organization notifies you that part of the dues or other amounts you pay to the organization are used to pay nondeductible lobbying expenses, you can’t deduct that part. See Lobbying Expenses in Pub. 529 for information on exceptions.

Lost or Mislaid Cash or Property

You can’t deduct a loss based on the mere disappearance of money or property. However, an accidental loss or disappearance of property can qualify as a casualty if it results from an identifiable event that is sudden, unexpected, or unusual. See Pub. 547 for more information.

Lunches With Co-Workers

You can’t deduct the expenses of lunches with co-workers, except while traveling away from home on business. See Pub. 463 for information on deductible expenses while traveling away from home.

Meals While Working Late

You can’t deduct the cost of meals while working late. However, you may be able to claim a deduction if the cost of meals is a deductible entertainment expense, or if you’re traveling away from home. See Pub. 463 for information on deductible entertainment expenses and expenses while traveling away from home.

Personal Legal Expenses

You can’t deduct personal legal expenses such as those for the following.

  • Custody of children.

  • Breach of promise to marry suit.

  • Civil or criminal charges resulting from a personal relationship.

  • Damages for personal injury, except for certain unlawful discrimination and whistle-blower claims.

  • Preparation of a title (or defense or perfection of a title).

  • Preparation of a will.

  • Property claims or property settlement in a divorce.

You can’t deduct these expenses even if a result of the legal proceeding is the loss of income-producing property.

Political Contributions

You can’t deduct contributions made to a political candidate, a campaign committee, or a newsletter fund. Advertisements in convention bulletins and admissions to dinners or programs that benefit a political party or political candidate aren’t deductible.

Professional Accreditation Fees

You can’t deduct professional accreditation fees such as the following.

  • Accounting certificate fees paid for the initial right to practice accounting.

  • Bar exam fees and incidental expenses in securing initial admission to the bar.

  • Medical and dental license fees paid to get initial licensing.

Professional Reputation

You can’t deduct expenses of radio and TV appearances to increase your personal prestige or establish your professional reputation.

Relief Fund Contributions

You can’t deduct contributions paid to a private plan that pays benefits to any covered employee who can’t work because of any injury or illness not related to the job.

Residential Telephone Service

You can’t deduct any charge (including taxes) for basic local telephone service for the first telephone line to your residence, even if it’s used in a trade or business.

Stockholders’ Meetings

You can’t deduct transportation and other expenses you pay to attend stockholders’ meetings of companies in which you own stock but have no other interest. You can’t deduct these expenses even if you’re attending the meeting to get information that would be useful in making further investments.

Tax-Exempt Income Expenses

You can’t deduct expenses to produce tax-exempt income. You can’t deduct interest on a debt incurred or continued to buy or carry
tax-exempt securities.

If you have expenses to produce both taxable and tax-exempt income, but you can’t identify the expenses that produce each type of income, you must divide the expenses based on the amount of each type of income to determine the amount that you can deduct.

Travel Expenses for Another Individual

You generally can’t deduct travel expenses you pay or incur for a spouse, dependent, or other individual who accompanies you (or your employee) on business or personal travel unless the spouse, dependent, or other individual is an employee of the taxpayer, the travel is for a bona fide business purpose, and such expenses would otherwise be deductible by the spouse, dependent, or other individual. See Pub. 463 for more information on deductible travel expenses.

Voluntary Unemployment Benefit Fund Contributions

You can’t deduct voluntary unemployment benefit fund contributions you make to a union fund or a private fund. However, you can deduct contributions as taxes if state law requires you to make them to a state unemployment fund that covers you for the loss of wages from unemployment caused by business conditions.

Wristwatches

You can’t deduct the cost of a wristwatch, even if there is a job requirement that you know the correct time to properly perform your duties.

Using the guidance

Keep the documents that establish the dates, amounts, and circumstances described above. References to other chapters, forms, worksheets, or earlier and later sections refer to the linked IRS publication. Check the full publication and its updates before relying on a rule for a different tax year or a situation not addressed here.

Sources and further reading

The cited U.S. government text is in the public domain. Source accessed October 28, 2026. Fynoptic has organized this material for educational use and is independent of, and not endorsed by, the IRS.

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