David J. Edwards - Page 26




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          this Court.  Petitioner made no motion to amend his petition and            
          raised this issue for the first time at trial.  Respondent                  
          contends that we should not consider petitioner’s request because           
          petitioner failed to raise the issue in his petition.  “We have             
          held on numerous occasions that we will not consider issues which           
          have not been pleaded.”  Foil v. Commissioner, 92 T.C. 376, 418             
          (1989), affd. 920 F.2d 1196 (5th Cir. 1990); Markwardt v.                   
          Commissioner, 64 T.C. 989, 997 (1975); Brumley v. Commissioner,             
          T.C. Memo. 1998-424.                                                        
               Copies of petitioner’s “flight log” were received in                   
          evidence, and we heard his testimony on the subject.  The issue             
          was tried by consent, see Rule 41(b), and we will consider the              
          issue on the merits.  For the reasons set forth below, we deny              
          petitioner’s belated claims for the deductibility of airplane               
          expenses.                                                                   
               First, petitioner did not show the travel expenses were not            
          incurred in commuting from his home.  Taxpayers cannot deduct               
          commuting expenses even if the taxpayer’s home is a long distance           
          from his office.  In Commissioner v. Flowers, 326 U.S. 465, 473             
          (1946), the Supreme Court denied a deduction for travel expenses            
          between the taxpayer’s home in Jackson, Mississippi, and his                
          office in Mobile, Alabama, stating:  “Whether he maintained one             
          abode or two, whether he traveled three blocks or three hundred             
          miles to work, the nature of these expenditures remained the                






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