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We hold that petitioner’s clothing expenditures constitute
personal expenses nondeductible under section 262(a) rather than
unreimbursed employee business expenses deductible under section
162.
C. Tax Preparation Fees
The parties have stipulated that, prior to trial, petitioner
failed to provide substantiation for her Schedule A deduction of
$617 for tax preparation fees, and she provided no substantiation
during the trial. She has failed to provide even the minimal
substantiation that might permit us to estimate the allowable
deduction as permitted under Cohan v. Commissioner, 39 F.2d 540,
543-544 (2d Cir. 1930). Even under Cohan, there must be
sufficient evidence in the record to provide a basis upon which
an estimate may be made. Vanicek v. Commissioner, 85 T.C. 731,
742-743 (1985). Here, there is none. That complete absence of
substantiation means that (1) petitioner retains the burden of
proving her right to deduct any amount for tax preparation fees,
see sec. 7491(a)(2)(A); Rule 142(a), and (2) she has failed to
sustain that burden.
8(...continued)
Court, she necessarily fails the objective test applied by the
Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Pevsner, which casts a
wider net. It does not appear that the Court of Appeals for the
Third Circuit, to which an appeal of this case would most likely
lie, has specifically adopted either test.
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