Ralph Louis Vitale, Jr. - Page 18




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          the factors that support each party's position.  See sec. 1.183-            
          2(b), Income Tax Regs.  Moreover, certain factors are given more            
          weight than others because they are more meaningfully applied to            
          the facts in this case.  Respondent concedes that the fourth                
          element, the expectation that assets used in the activity may               
          appreciate in value, is inapplicable to the present case.                   
               Taking into account the above factors and considering the              
          record as a whole, we conclude that, during the years in issue,             
          petitioner had a bona fide intention to derive a profit from his            
          writing activity.  In addition to petitioner's testimony, which             
          we found to be credible and forthright, the evidence in the                 
          record shows an intent and effort by petitioner to engage in and            
          continue in the writing field with the purpose of producing                 
          income and a livelihood.                                                    
               We first look to the manner in which petitioner carried on             
          the activity.  Petitioner managed some aspects of this activity             
          in a businesslike fashion.  He kept bills, receipts, and sched-             
          ules for his traveling expenses, and he kept a contemporaneous              
          journal to substantiate cash expenditures that he incurred to               
          interview prostitutes at the brothels, for which receipts were              
          not available.  Petitioner was able to use his records, including           
          credit card statements, to compile logs for 1993 and 1994,                  
          showing his travel dates, the dates, times, and places of his               
          interviews, the names of the prostitutes he interviewed, the per            






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