- 7 - 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.Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011