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a loss must be evidenced by a closed and completed transaction,
fixed by identifiable events, and actually sustained during the
taxable year. Echols v. Commissioner, 950 F.2d 209, 211 (5th
Cir. 1991), affg. per curiam 935 F.2d 703 (1991), revg. and
remanding 93 T.C. 553 (1989); sec. 1.165-1(b), (d)(1), Income Tax
Regs. Substance and not mere form shall govern in determining a
deductible loss. See Cottage Sav. Association v. Commissioner,
499 U.S. 554, 567-568 (1991); Boehm v. Commissioner, 326 U.S.
287, 292 (1945).
Section 165(g) allows as a deduction any loss sustained
during a single taxable year from any security which has become
worthless during that year. For other assets, section 1.167(a)-
8, Income Tax Regs., typically requires that the asset be
"retired". Taxpayers, however, are entitled to a loss deduction
for assets which are not securities that have not been "retired"
but have become worthless during the tax year in question.
Echols v. Commissioner, 950 F.2d 209, 211 (5th Cir. 1991).
Taxpayers are entitled to loss deductions for depreciable
intangible assets such as licenses and noncompetition agreements.
See Estate of Wood v. Commissioner, 823 F.2d 1553 (9th Cir.
1987), affg. T.C. Memo. 1985-517; Oak Harbor Freight Lines, Inc.
v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1999-291. Taxpayers are entitled to
take loss deductions under section 165 "not only for assets that
the taxpayer has abandoned, with or without their having become
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