Frank Chen - Page 6

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          effective mark-to-market election for that year under section               
          475(f)(1), his 1999 net loss from purchases and sales of                    
          securities would be a capital loss deductible only to the extent            
          of $3,000.  See secs. 165(f), 1211(b)(1).                                   
          II.  Arguments of the Parties                                               
               A.  Petitioner’s Argument                                              
               Petitioner argues that, by virtue of the volume and short-             
          term nature of his securities trades during 1999, the time                  
          devoted daily to his trading activities, and his substantial                
          investment in software used to provide information regarding up-            
          to-the-minute market conditions, he qualified as a “trader in               
          securities” for purposes of section 475(f)(1).4                             
               Petitioner further argues that, because he was, in fact, a             
          trader as of January 1, 1999, and was unaware of the requirement            
          to timely elect mark-to-market accounting under section 475(f) in           
          order to treat his trading losses as fully deductible ordinary              
          losses under section 165(c)(1), he should be permitted to make an           
          untimely, retroactive election under that section.  We interpret            
          petitioner’s “request” to “implement” mark-to-market accounting             
          and his defense of his right to do so untimely as, in substance,            
          an argument that we must find that (1) the election of mark-to-             
          market accounting attached to petitioner’s return was an informal           


               4  The term “trader in securities” is not further defined in           
          sec. 475 or in the regulations interpreting that section.                   





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