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OPINION6
A. Depreciation
Petitioner claims that he drove his automobile 15,000 miles
in 1997 and that of this total, exactly 79.10 percent, or 11,865
miles, were for business. We find this claim curious, given the
fact that (1) from January 8, 1997, through the end of the year,
petitioner did not have any clients for whom he provided
translation services and (2) petitioner did not maintain any log
or other record regarding the use of his vehicle.7
By virtue of the strict substantiation requirements of
section 274(d)(4), no deduction is allowable with respect to any
listed property, as defined in section 280F(d)(4), on the basis
of any approximation or the unsupported testimony of the
6 We decide the issues in this case without regard to the
general rule of sec. 7491(a)(1), which was amended by the
Internal Revenue Service Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998,
Pub. L. 105-206, sec. 3001(a), 112 Stat. 685, 726, because the
record demonstrates that petitioner did not comply with the
requirements of sec. 7491(a)(2)(A) and (B). See Higbee v.
Commissioner, 116 T.C. (June 6, 2001). Moreover, we do not
regard petitioner’s conclusory and self-serving statements as
credible evidence within the meaning of sec. 7491(a)(1). See id.
7 At trial, petitioner was asked how he differentiated
between business use and personal use of his vehicle.
Petitioner’s explanation, which was nonresponsive to the
question, was as follows:
I do what’s feasible in this situation, and the
cost of running this business had to be kept to a
minimum, so to maintain separate logs like this would
be very cumbersome. It’s an undue burden on a small
business like this, so I did not have any such record.
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