- 14 - were established at trial other than the use thereof by petitioners in their professional careers. Accordingly, the Court holds that the only and exclusive use of that apartment during 1998 was for trade or business purposes. The limitations of section 280A(c), therefore, are not applicable. Petitioners’ expenses in maintaining and furnishing the Ravenspur apartment are deductible as ordinary and necessary business expenses. The Court next addresses whether the expenses deducted by petitioners have been substantiated. The Court notes that Mr. Radnitz testified credibly regarding his usage of offices both within his residence and at the two outside locations. Moreover, petitioners cooperated with respondent throughout the examination of their returns and produced sufficient documentation of their utilities expenses to convince the Court of their veracity. Petitioners provided the Court with a summary of their utilities expenses but provided only partial expense records to support their summary. They incorrectly assumed that, since they had provided the complete set of bills and expense records to respondent during the audit, reproducing them in Court was not necessary. In the absence of adequate substantiation, this Court may estimate the amount of deductible expenses incurred, bearing heavily against the taxpayer whose inexactitude in substantiating the amount of the expense is of his own making. Cohan v. Commissioner, 39 F.2d 540, 543-544 (2d Cir. 1930). However,Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011