- 5 -
Expenses which are ordinary and necessary to carrying on a
trade or business generally are allowed as a deduction in the
year in which they are paid. Sec. 162(a).
Petitioner testified that he was engaged in a business
activity named John Beecroft Sales. His testimony concerning
this alleged activity can be summarized as follows. The
business, started in 1990, involved sales of electronic parts,
primarily computer-related. He incurred various expenses in
traveling throughout California to deliver parts to customers.
In total, he spent approximately 10 to 15 percent of his time on
this business. The bulk of the work took place on weekends. The
business has incurred losses in each year since its inception in
1990.
We find that petitioner was not engaged in the trade or
business of selling electronics outside his primary employment as
a salesman at Steven Engineering. We need not address whether
the activity was engaged in for profit under section 183 (or the
other issues raised in the notice of deficiency) because we find
that petitioner was not engaged in the sales activity.
The primary evidence in the record concerning such an
activity is petitioner’s own testimony. We do not find his
testimony to be credible, and we therefore do not accept it. The
only corroborating evidence is in the form of “mileage logs” and
an assortment of receipts. The mileage logs (actually pages of a
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011