- 13 -
Petitioner was hired by Selane Products for his experience
in sports medicine, and he was hired, at first, to sell a sports-
related product. Petitioner excelled in his duties and was
rewarded with increased responsibility, including management,
marketing, and finance-related tasks. The record establishes
that he performed these myriad tasks before he enrolled in the
MBA program. Once he enrolled, but before he finished the MBA
program, he was promoted to new positions involving more complex
tasks, but still involving the same marketing, finance, and
management duties.
Simply acquiring new titles or abilities does not
necessarily constitute the entry into a new trade or business.
See Glenn v. Commissioner, supra. The “commonsense approach”,
rather, requires that a comparison be made between the types of
activities that the taxpayer was qualified to perform before
acquiring a particular title or degree with those that he or she
was qualified to perform afterwards. Reisinger v. Commissioner,
71 T.C. 568, 574 (1979); Davis v. Commissioner, 65 T.C. 1014,
1019 (1976); Glenn v. Commissioner, supra; Weiszmann v.
Commissioner, supra at 1109. If the activities are significantly
different, then the educational expenses are disallowable. Glenn
v. Commissioner, supra. This is an objective test. Diaz v.
Commissioner, 70 T.C. 1067, 1073 (1978); Taubman v. Commissioner,
60 T.C. 814, 817 (1973); see sec. 1.162-5, Income Tax Regs.
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