Norman E. Duquette, Inc. - Page 35




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          petitioner’s secretary.  Petitioner has failed to show any                  
          business necessity for it to spend anything (much less $310) for            
          two meals for two persons so that the Duquettes, who were                   
          married, lived together, and, as petitioner would have it, worked           
          together, could discuss the affairs of Norman’s one-man                     
          corporation.  See Moss v. Commissioner, 758 F.2d 211, 213 (7th              
          Cir. 1985), affg. 80 T.C. 1073 (1983); see also Dugan v.                    
          Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1998-373.                                          
          V.  Automobile Depreciation                                                 
               On the 1994 tax return, petitioner deducted depreciation of            
          $2,550, which it explained as being with respect to an automobile           
          placed in service on June 17, 1992, costing $15,884, used                   
          100 percent for business, and driven 12,000 miles on business               
          during the 1994 tax year (the automobile).  Respondent disallowed           
          that deduction, explaining that petitioner had failed to                    
          establish the cost of the automobile, that it was depreciable,              
          and that it was used in a trade or business.                                
               On brief, petitioner claims:                                           
               The company car was driven 12,000 business miles in                    
               FY94 which included a househunting trip from Dallas to                 
               Naples [Florida] in December 1993, a one way trip to                   
               Florida in April 1994 incident to the relocation, and a                
               trip from Dallas to Phoenix in January 1994 for                        
               consulting.  * * *  These three trips account for 6,100                
               of the 12,000 business miles in FY 94.  The balance of                 
               the business miles (5,900) is an average of 113 miles                  
               per week for travel to business meetings, post office,                 
               banks, and other incidental business activity.                         







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