George and Bozenna Pohoski - Page 20

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          at the Valley Isle Resort.5  Further, Mr. Pohoski admitted under            
          cross-examination that the front desk services were necessary in            
          the operation of the Maui condo, and it would have been very                
          difficult and inconvenient otherwise.                                       
               Respondent argues on brief that: "All of the hours that * * *          
          [the front desk was] open and available should be counted as time           
          spent by them in connection with the [rental] activity.  The time           
          spent by the front desk operators should not be divided among the           
          units for which they were responsible."  As support for this                
          argument, respondent directs the Court to Goshorn v. Commissioner,          
          T.C. Memo. 1993-578, and Serenbetz v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo.              
          1996-510.  Respondent has misinterpreted these cases.                       
               In Goshorn v. Commissioner, supra, the taxpayers owned a 28-           
          foot sailboat which they docked at a marina near Dallas, Texas,             
          while they were living in Connecticut.  An arrangement was made for         
          the marina to rent out the sailboat for charters during the year.           
          The taxpayers claimed to have spent more time than the marina staff         
          in operating and maintaining the boat.  In rejecting the taxpayer's         
          claim, we reasoned that "all of the activity that directly related          
          to the actual rental of the boat was performed by the Marina and            
          not by petitioner."  Id.  (Emphasis added.)  Applying this                  


               5    The front desk operated by Rainbow Reservations was               
          available to assist petitioners' tenants for 9 hours per day, 7             
          days per week, for 22 weeks during 1993 (the number of weeks the            
          Maui condo was rented), for a total of 1,386 hours.                         




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