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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.
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