- 7 - entitled to the claimed $403 deduction because that amount pertained to the automobile for which he was allowed an automobile expense deduction in the amount of $1,950, based upon 6,000 miles of business travel. Respondent is sustained on this issue. Petitioner claimed a $1,300 legal and professional services expense deduction on his 1998 Schedule C. He explained that he paid that to a friend of a friend to draw up a business plan that would lead to the incorporation of an unexplained business that petitioner intended to pursue. There is no evidence in the record that petitioner had an incorporated business during the years in issue. Testimony may be sufficient as proof but in an instance such as here, where the testimony is conclusory and subject to doubt, it falls short of overcoming respondent’s presumption of correctness. Hearn v. Commissioner, 36 T.C. 672 (1961), affd. 309 F.2d 431 (9th Cir. 1962). We sustain respondent on this issue. Petitioner claimed a vehicle rent or lease deduction on his 1998 Schedule C. He stated that he rented vans to transport various items to his home from Chicago and Commerce, Georgia, to sell. Again, we are left with petitioner’s uncorroborated self- serving testimony to substantiate the claimed deduction, which this Court need not accept. Sacks v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1994-217, affd. 82 F.3d 918 (9th Cir. 1996); Niedringhaus v.Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Next
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