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or improves the skills required by the individual in the
individual’s trade or business are deductible as ordinary and
necessary business expenses. See sec. 1.162-5(a), Income Tax
Regs. No deduction is allowed, however, if the education is part
of a program of study that will lead to qualifying the individual
in a new trade or business. See sec. 1.162-5(b)(3), Income Tax
Regs. Expenditures made for education that is a part of a
program of study that will lead to qualifying an individual for a
new trade or business are not deductible, even if the education
maintains or improves the skills required by the individual in
the individual’s trade or business, because those expenditures
“are personal expenditures or constitute an inseparable aggregate
of personal and capital expenditures”. Sec. 1.162-5(b)(1); see
also sec. 262.
Petitioner points to the stipulation that during 1995 he was
self-employed as a golf instructor. According to petitioner,
the course of study he pursued at the academy did not lead to
qualifying him in a new trade or business, but it did maintain or
improve the skills required of him as a golf instructor. The
manner in which petitioner’s skills as a golf instructor were
maintained or improved is not specifically addressed. We are
invited to conclude that they were, if only from inferences drawn
from our general knowledge regarding what a “golf instructor”
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Last modified: May 25, 2011