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nondeductible personal commuting expenses.
Section 162(a) allows a deduction for all the ordinary and
necessary expenses paid or incurred during the taxable year in
carrying on a trade or business. Section 262, however, provides
that no deduction is allowed for personal, living, or family
expenses. In general, the cost of daily commuting to and from
work is a nondeductible personal expense. See Commissioner v.
Flowers, 326 U.S. 465, 473-474 (1946); sec. 1.162-2(e), Income
Tax Regs.
Respondent’s position in the case at hand is consistent with
the two-prong test of Rev. Rul. 94-47, 1994-2 C.B. 18.2 In order
for expenses for transportation between the taxpayer’s residence
and her job site to be deductible under this test, the taxpayer
must establish that her employment at a job site is temporary and
the job site is outside the metropolitan area where the taxpayer
lives and normally works. See id.
In previous cases respondent has challenged the
deductibility of transportation costs on the basis that the
employment at issue was not temporary. Therefore, our inquiry
generally has not focused on the second prong of the test. The
Court, however, in Harris v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1980-56,
2 The two-prong test was first announced in Rev. Rul. 190,
1953-2 C.B. 303, and later amplified and clarified by Rev. Ruls.
90-23, 1990-1 C.B. 28, and 94-47, 1994-2 C.B. 18. Respondent’s
position also is consistent with Rev. Rul. 99-7, 1999-5 I.R.B. 4,
released after the year in issue. Rev. Rul. 99-7 obsoletes Rev.
Rul. 190 and modifies Rev. Ruls. 90-23 and 94-47.
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