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Issue 1. Unreimbursed Employee Business Expense Deduction
In order to deduct unreimbursed employee business expenses,
a taxpayer must satisfy the requirements of section 162, and,
with respect to certain expenses, section 274.
Section 162(a) authorizes a deduction for all ordinary and
necessary expenses paid or incurred during a taxable year in
carrying on a trade or business. An "ordinary" expense is one
that relates to a transaction "of common or frequent occurrence
in the type of business involved", Deputy v. du Pont, 308 U.S.
488, 495 (1940), and a "necessary" expense is one that is
"appropriate and helpful" for "the development of the
petitioner's business", Welch v. Helvering, supra at 113. A
"trade or business" includes the trade or business of being an
employee. O'Malley v. Commissioner, 91 T.C. 352, 363-364 (1988);
Primuth v. Commissioner, 54 T.C. 374, 377-378 (1970).
In this case, petitioner satisfied the trade or business
requirement of section 162 because he was in the trade or
business of being an employee. However, he failed to convince us
that he had incurred ordinary and necessary employee business
expenses in excess of those reimbursed to him by his employers.
Each of petitioner's employers in 1993 had a policy of
reimbursing its employees for ordinary and necessary business
expenses. Pursuant to those policies, petitioner received $1,800
in automobile allowance and $25,173 ($2,129 from IHS and $23,044
from HRIG) in 1993 expense reimbursements. Although petitioner
introduced documentation of alleged business expenses at trial
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