Robert and Clara Satriana - Page 8




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          employment.  However, petitioners did not maintain logs or other            
          contemporaneous records to substantiate the expenses incurred in            
          the use of the vehicle.  Such records are required under section            
          274(d).  Petitioners, therefore, are not entitled to a deduction            
          for unreimbursed employee expenses for 1998.4                               
               The third issue is whether petitioners are entitled to a               
          deduction for home mortgage interest for the years 1998 and 1999            
          in excess of the amounts conceded by respondent at trial.  The              
          amounts that respondent did not concede represented points or               
          prepaid interest petitioners incurred in the refinancing of their           
          residence in each of the years in question.  The total points,              
          however, were not independently paid by petitioners but were                
          financed by the lender and included as part of the gross loan.              
               Generally, interest paid on home indebtedness is deductible            
          by virtue of section 163(h)(2)(D), which provides that any                  
          qualified residence interest does not constitute nondeductible              
          personal interest.  Prepaid finance charges, to the extent such             
          charges represent deferred interest on a loan, are generally                
          deductible over the life of the loan.  Sec. 461(g).  However,               
          where the points (prepaid interest) are not paid separately by              



               4    Petitioners also claimed a $300 deduction for tax                 
          preparation fees that was disallowed by respondent.  Even if                
          petitioners paid this amount, such amount is less than the sec.             
          67(a) limitation; therefore, petitioners would attain no tax                
          benefit from this expense.                                                  





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