Research tax deductible

In a recent ruling, the Internal Revenue Service has held that college and university professors, when filing their personal tax returns, may deduct research and related expenses incurred in their capacity as educators. The ruling, according to a Treasury Department spokesman, applies only to teachers who hold professorship status, including associate and assistant professors, but not to those of lesser rank, such as instructors and lecturers. In general, such expenses were disallowed in the past, having been considered personal in nature, and judged to have been undertaken primarily to increase the professor's prestige in his particular field.