American Stores Company and Subsidiaries - Page 18




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          expenditures, which, if deductible at all, must be amortized over           
          the useful life of the asset.”  Commissioner v. Tellier, 383 U.S.           
          687, 689-690 (1966).                                                        
               Expenses incurred in defending a business and its policies             
          from attack are generally ordinary and necessary--and deductible-           
          -business expenses.  See, e.g., Commissioner v. Heininger, 320              
          U.S. 467 (1943) (a dentist's mail order business faced ruin when            
          the Postmaster General deprived him of access to the mails; the             
          Supreme Court held that his legal fees, incurred in litigating              
          the propriety of the Postmaster General’s order, were properly              
          deductible as ordinary and necessary business expenses);                    
          Commissioner v. Tellier, supra (holding that the taxpayer’s legal           
          costs “incurred in his defense against charges of past criminal             
          conduct” arising out of his business activities were deductible             
          under section 162).  On the other hand, no current deduction is             
          allowed for a capital expenditure.  See sec. 263(a);  INDOPCO,              
          Inc. v. Commissioner, supra at 83.                                          
               A particular cost, no matter what its type, may be                     
          deductible in one context but may be required to be capitalized             
          in another context.  Simply because other cases have allowed a              
          current deduction for similar expenses in different contexts does           
          not require the same result here.  For example, in Commissioner             
          v. Idaho Power Co., 418 U.S. 1, 13 (1974), the Supreme Court made           
          the following observation about wages paid by a taxpayer in its             






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