- 8 - one of two law firms that performed legal services for petitioner, with not more than a 1.35-percent equity interest at any relevant time. Cervin performed 67.7 hours of legal services out of a total of 145.5 hours performed by Thompson & Knight for petitioner. Wilson & White performed a total of 600.55 hours of legal services for petitioner. Respondent argues that Cervin cannot recover litigation costs in this case because Cervin's relationship to petitioner cannot be distinguished from a taxpayer's representing himself, and pro se taxpayers cannot recover attorney's fees under section 7430. Frisch v. Commissioner, 87 T.C. 838 (1986). In Frisch v. Commissioner, supra, we disallowed all attorney's fees that were claimed by the taxpayer, who was an attorney. In Minahan v. Commissioner, 88 T.C. 516 (1987), we disallowed all fees paid by the taxpayer-attorney to the law firm in which the taxpayer-attorney worked and of which he was president and a senior stockholder. We do not believe that the rationale of those cases applies to the circumstances of this case. In Frisch v. Commissioner, supra, we held that the plain language of section 7430 could not be read to include lost opportunity costs of the petitioning attorney and that, in any event, his fees were not paid or incurred within the meaning of the statute. In Minahan v. Commissioner, supra, we denied feesPage: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Next
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