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between their home and the condominium units, to attend meetings
and to perform "maintenance" is said to have consumed 219 hours.
The Court recognizes that travel in some circumstances can be a
personal service performed in connection with making property
available for customer use. Commuting, however, is an inherently
personal activity and as such does not constitute a "personal
service" to customers. See Fausner v. Commissioner, 413 U.S.
838, 839 (1973) ("We cannot read section 262 of the Internal
Revenue Code as excluding such expense from 'personal'
expenses"); Commissioner v. Flowers, 326 U.S. 465 (1946); sec.
1.262-1(b)(5), Income Tax Regs. (taxpayer's choice to live at a
distance from his place of business is personal).
Petitioners claim involvement in 96 hours' worth of
"comprehensive seasonal" repairs and maintenance of the property.
Petitioners performed the services three times together and
Dawnielle assisted him on two or three of the trips.2 The
services may have been performed more frequently than at typical
high-grade commercial or residential real properties.
Petitioners, however, failed to provide any evidence of the value
of the services they provided. They did provide evidence that
they paid maid and linen service costs of $2,364, a figure
2Petitioner testified that his wife was with him on three of
the trips. Petitioners' C.P.A. represented to Appeals Division
in a letter dated September 12, 2003, that she made two trips to
their properties.
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Last modified: May 25, 2011