- 9 -
Documentary evidence. Documentary evidence is required to
support all lodging expenses (however, see Per diem
allowance or reimbursement, earlier) while traveling away
from home. [IRS Pub. 17, ch. 28, at 149 (1990).]
The parenthetical refers the reader to that portion of the
publication where a procedure for accounting for expenses,
including lodging expenses, on the basis of a per diem amount
rather than actual expenditures is explained. While it is true
that as a self-employed individual petitioner was not eligible to
use the per diem method, the Publication is not exceedingly clear
on this point, and we accept that petitioner could have
misunderstood this based on the language quoted above. We note
in this regard that in the most recent version of Publication 17,
"Your Federal Income Tax" (1997), of which we also take judicial
notice, the section on "Documentary evidence" has been
substantially revised to make clearer the limited circumstances
in which the per diem method may be used for lodging expenses.
Documentary evidence. You generally must have documentary
evidence, such as receipts, canceled checks, or bills, to
support your expenses. However, this evidence is not needed
if any of the following apply:
1) You have meals or lodging expenses
while traveling away from home for
which you account to your employer
under an accountable plan and you
use a per diem allowance method that
includes meals and/or lodging.
[IRS Pub. 17, ch. 28, at 186 (1997).]
Section 1.6664-4(b)(1), Income Tax Regs. (as effective for
the years in issue), provides that reasonable cause for purposes
of the accuracy-related penalties includes "an honest
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011