No. The qualifying capital must go into the new commercial enterprise and be at risk for job creation. Administrative, legal and government fees are additional and must be budgeted separately.
Only the invested dollars count toward the threshold
A regional-center offering typically requires the investment amount plus an administrative fee paid to the center, and the investor also pays government filing fees under the USCIS fee schedule, immigrant visa fees for each family member, professional fees and the costs of assembling source-of-funds records. Only the investment amount itself, placed into the new commercial enterprise and subject to loss, counts toward the US$800,000 or US$1,050,000 threshold; the administrative fee does not, even though it is paid at the same time and often from the same wire. The Mount Pearl couple's gift and retirement funds must therefore cover the investment plus these additional costs, and the source-of-funds documentation should trace the whole amount, including the fees, because the officer will see the total leaving the account. Keep a simple reconciliation showing the investment amount separately from the fees. Ask the regional center whether the administrative fee is refundable if the petition is denied and whether the investment is returned; those are commercial terms, and they vary.
Hypothetical example: a maple-products processor has enough liquid funds for the qualifying investment but not for the regional center fee and family filing charges. The decision is whether to delay until all amounts can be documented and paid without borrowing against the investment. The subscription and escrow documents settle the capital amount; invoices and the USCIS schedule identify the additional costs. Do not describe an administrative fee as capital at risk, and keep a source-of-funds trail for every dollar leaving the household account.