Lamar Odom Seeks Tax Deduction For NBA Fines and Fitness Fees

LA Lakers player, and husband of reality star Khloe Kardashian, Lamar Odom has sued the IRS because of a tax bill stemming from his 2007 return. Odom is requesting that the government allow his deductions for $12,000 in sports fines and $178,000 spent to stay physically fit. Athletes aren’t the only ones who would appreciate a tax deduction for gym memberships, cops, firefighters and other workers with fitness requirements would probably appreciate this deduction as well.

Forbes.com reports

A college dropout, Odom is representing himself without a lawyer. In his personally signed pleading, filed at the court’s Washington, D.C. office on October 25, Odom disputed a bill that the IRS sent him in August. “The taxpayer claimed $12,000 of employee business expenses for fines that were assessed by the National Basketball Association,” he declared, writing in the third person. “These fines are commonly assessed on professional athletes and are work related. Therefore the fines incurred are ordinary and necessary employee business expense.” The petition, which listed his address as an agent’s office in Los Angeles, offered no details about the nature of transgressions leading to the fines.

Federal law generally prohibits tax deductions for financial sanctions resulting from criminal cases and matters like traffic violations. But Odom wrote, “The fines imposed by the team and the NBA are not imposed for the violation of any government law and are therefore not specifically excluded.”

On the same reasoning, Odom, now 31, also attacked an IRS decision not to allow taxpayers in effect to subsidize his efforts as a pro athlete to stay fit. “The taxpayer claimed $178,337 of employee business expenses for professional training and conditioning,” he wrote. “The taxpayer’s employment contract requires that the taxpayer be in sufficient physical condition that allows him to perform as a professional basketball player throughout the basketball season.”

Tax law and court cases have tended to frown on writing off such items. In the explanation attached to its bill, the IRS wrote Odom, “We have disallowed some of the expenses you claimed as business expenses because it was determined they were personal expenses and not deductible.”

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Roni Deutch Tax Center and NJ Nets to Will Offer Free Tax Preparation

Less than a month after Roni Deutch Tax Center partnered with the Sacramento Kings for the “Kings Tax Night,” the Roni Deutch Tax Center has also partnered with the NJ Nets to offer a similar promotion to residents of New York and New Jersey. This Friday representatives from local Roni Deutch Tax Centers will be available to answer questions, and all fans who attend the game will receive a coupon that they can redeem at a Roni Deutch Tax Center to get their state income tax done free.

According to NYTimes.com, “the Nets will not be paying their fans’ tax bills, and a similar coupon can be downloaded from Roni Deutch’s Web site. Deutch charges $29 to prepare a state income tax return and $185 for a federal return.” Roni Deutch had no trouble linking her fortunes to the worst team in the N.B.A.; in fact, she said she relished the chance.

“It’s easy to jump on the Lakers’ bandwagon,” said Deutch, who claims to have been the first girl to play Little League baseball on an all-boys team in her home state, California. “The hallmark of a strong company is one that aligns with young companies. I’m a betting woman, and I bet the Nets are going to win a championship this decade.”