Allocation
Ask your tax preparer to break out the fee between business schedules (Schedule C, SE, 8829, 4562, etc.) and personal forms (1040 itself, Schedule A, credit forms). The business portion is deductible on Schedule C line 17. Many preparers volunteer this allocation; if not, ask for it explicitly.
Personal portion non-deductible
Tax preparation fees were a miscellaneous itemized deduction subject to the 2% AGI floor before TCJA. The 2017 act eliminated all 2%-floor miscellaneous deductions for 2018-2025. The personal portion of tax prep fees is currently not deductible at all.
IRS audit representation
Fees for audit representation, IRS dispute resolution, or appeals attributable to business returns are deductible as business expenses. The portion attributable to personal return matters follows the same rules as ordinary tax-prep fees.
Bookkeeping vs tax prep
Year-round bookkeeping fees are clearly business expenses (Schedule C). One-time tax preparation fees require allocation. A combined bookkeeping-and-tax-prep engagement should be billed in a way that supports the business-vs-personal split.
State tax returns
Fees for state business income tax returns (state Schedule C, S-corp 1120-S, partnership 1065) are deductible as business expenses. State personal income tax preparation follows the same personal/non-deductible treatment as federal.
Where this fits in the larger Schedule C picture
Schedule C has more than two dozen named expense lines plus an "Other expenses" catch-all. For most small businesses, four or five lines drive the bulk of the deduction total — vehicle, home office, depreciation, contract labor or wages, and supplies — and the remaining lines individually contribute small amounts that nevertheless add up. Treating each named line as a recurring decision rather than an afterthought, and revisiting the categories each January, often surfaces $2,000–$5,000 in additional legitimate deductions that a less disciplined process would have missed entirely.
Documentation that survives an exam
An IRS examination of this deduction will request three things: proof of payment (bank or card statement), proof of the underlying transaction (invoice or receipt), and proof of business purpose (a contemporaneous note or calendar entry). The first two are usually trivial to produce; the third is where most filers fall short. Capturing business purpose at the moment of the expense — a one-line note in your bookkeeping software or a category and memo on the receipt-capture app — converts a generic charge into a documented deduction that will withstand scrutiny three to six years later when memory has faded.