Earl L. Miller and Nancy B. Miller - Page 11

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            (6) the taxpayer's history of income or losses with respect to                              
            the activity; (7) the amount of occasional profits, if any, which                           
            are earned; (8) the financial status of the taxpayer; and (9)                               
            elements of personal pleasure or recreation.  Sec. 1.183-2(b),                              
            Income Tax Regs.                                                                            
                  No one factor is determinative in and of itself, and our                              
            conclusion with respect to petitioner's profit motive does not                              
            depend upon merely counting up those factors that suggest the                               
            presence of a profit motive and comparing the number to those                               
            factors that indicate the opposite.  Sec. 1.183-2(b), Income Tax                            
            Regs.                                                                                       
                  Taking into account the above factors and considering the                             
            facts and circumstances relating to petitioner's writing                                    
            activity, as discussed more fully below, we are not persuaded                               
            that during the years in issue petitioner engaged in that                                   
            activity with the intent to profit that is necessary to consider                            
            the writing activity a trade or business for purposes of section                            
            162.  The activity did generate income; however, not all income                             
            producing activities constitute trades or businesses within the                             
            meaning of section 162(a).  Cf. Commissioner v. Groetzinger,                                
            supra at 35.                                                                                
                  In each year in issue, the great majority of expense                                  
            deductions attributable to petitioner's writing activity were                               
            related to travel.  We are particularly influenced by                                       





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