Updated October 9, 2026.
Are financial advisor fees tax deductible in 2026?
For most people, no. Fees you pay a financial advisor to manage personal investments are not deductible on your federal Form 1040 in 2026.
Before 2018, those fees could be a miscellaneous itemized deduction to the extent they, together with other miscellaneous expenses, exceeded 2 percent of adjusted gross income. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act suspended that deduction for 2018 through 2025. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed in July 2025, made that suspension permanent. It did not come back for the 2026 tax year.
What still can be deducted
- Business advice. A fee that is an ordinary and necessary expense of a trade or business can be deducted on the business return, not as a personal itemized deduction.
- Retirement accounts. Paying an advisory fee from a traditional IRA can reduce the account balance that will eventually be taxed. That is not the same as a deduction on Form 1040. Roth IRA fees are usually better paid from outside the Roth, so tax-free growth stays inside the account.
- Investment interest. Interest on money borrowed to buy taxable investments, such as margin interest, can still be deductible up to net investment income. That rule is about interest, not advisory fees.
- State taxes. A few states do not fully follow the federal rule. Check your state instructions before assuming a state deduction exists.
A typical assets-under-management fee, flat planning fee, or hourly fee for a personal brokerage or retirement portfolio is not a federal write-off in 2026.
Sources: IRS Publication 529 and coverage of the 2025 tax law that made the miscellaneous-itemized-deduction suspension permanent.