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of renting their house with a profit motive and are therefore
precluded from deducting under section 162 or section 212
expenses attributable to its rental use. Accordingly, respondent
disallowed all of petitioners' claimed expenses for cleaning and
maintenance and depreciation attributable to the rental use of
their house and asserted that the rental income was reportable as
"other income". Petitioners concede that they are not entitled
to the depreciation and maintenance expenses claimed on Schedule
E of their original and amended returns. Petitioners, however,
argue that they may fully offset the rental income by mortgage
interest attributable to the rental use of the house.
Section 280A(a) provides that, except as otherwise provided
in that section, no deduction otherwise allowable under chapter 1
of the Internal Revenue Code is allowable "with respect to the
use of a dwelling unit which is used by the taxpayer during the
taxable year as a residence." A taxpayer uses a dwelling during
the taxable year as a residence if he uses the unit for personal
purposes for a number of days which exceeds the greater of 14
days or 10 percent of the number of days during the taxable year
for which the dwelling unit was rented at fair market value.
Sec. 280A(d)(1). Nevertheless, some deductions that are
attributable to the rental use of a dwelling unit are excepted
from the blanket disallowance of section 280A(a) and can be
deducted subject to the limitations imposed by subsections (c)(5)
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