- 8 -
She interviewed for about 2 hours and stayed for about 2 or 3
days, including Thanksgiving. The fifth trip was to Charleston,
West Virginia. Petitioner again had a 1-day interview and stayed
in Charleston from December 23 to December 29.
As noted above, the regulations provide that travel expenses
are deductible only if the trip is related primarily to the
taxpayer’s business, sec. 1.162-2(b)(1), Income Tax Regs., and an
important factor in determining this is the amount of time spent
on personal activities compared to the time spent on activities
related to the taxpayer’s trade or business. Sec. 1.162-2(b)(2),
Income Tax Regs. Respondent concedes that petitioner has
substantiated the expenses in question. However, petitioner has
failed to demonstrate that three of the trips in question,
namely, the July trip to Beckley, the July trip to Los Angeles,
and the December trip to Charleston, were not primarily personal.
In the case of these three trips, each was at least 5 days long,
even though the job interview that occurred during each trip was
only for 1 day. Petitioner has failed to show that any of the
remaining time, other than the time during interviews, was spent
on business rather than personal activities. Moreover, two of
these three trips occurred over major holidays. We find that
these trips were primarily personal in nature, and accordingly
petitioner is not entitled to deduct any of the travel costs
associated with them.
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011