- 7 -
which he claimed had not been reimbursed, he offered no credible
explanation of why the expenses in question were not reimbursed
or reimbursable under his employers' reimbursement policies.
When a taxpayer has the right to obtain reimbursement for
his employee business expenses from his employer but fails to
seek reimbursement, the taxpayer cannot deduct the expenses
because it is not "necessary" for the taxpayer to remain
unreimbursed. See Orvis v. Commissioner, 788 F.2d 1406, 1408
(9th Cir. 1986), affg. T.C. Memo. 1984-533; Roach v.
Commissioner, 20 B.T.A. 919, 925 (1930)("[O]ne taxpayer may not
take deductions properly belonging to another. A similar rule
should apply * * * where one spends money for the benefit of
another and is not reimbursed"). In general, only those
unreimbursed employee business expenses that are not reimbursable
by the taxpayer's employer are deductible by the taxpayer under
section 162.
Petitioner's attempt to deduct employee business expenses
also must fail because petitioner did not satisfy the
requirements of section 274. Section 274 imposes additional
stringent substantiation requirements for certain kinds of
business expenses. Section 274(d) provides, in pertinent part:
SEC. 274(d). Substantiation Required.--No deduction or
credit shall be allowed--
(1) under section 162 or 212 for any
traveling expense (including meals and lodging
while away from home),
(2) for any item with respect to an activity
which is of a type generally considered to
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011