What is the difference between a hard cost and a soft cost?
A hard cost is one you produce a check to cover; soft costs are intangibles incurred on behalf of the client. A hard cost would be for things like filing fees, court reporters, corporate kits etc. Soft costs are things like postage, long distance telephone calls, facsimiles, photocopies etc. There are different tax treatments for hard vs. soft costs by the IRS.