Daniel R. Allemeier, Jr. - Page 14

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               Petitioner’s business after enrolling in the MBA program did           
          not significantly change.  After completing the MBA program,                
          petitioner established with testimony that his business involved            
          the same general activities that he performed before enrolling in           
          the program, activities involving sales, marketing, and                     
          management.  While petitioner was awarded with new positions and            
          titles after he enrolled in the program and while the MBA may               
          have sped his advancement within Selane Products, the basic                 
          nature of his duties did not significantly change.  The MBA                 
          rather improved preexisting skills that petitioner used before              
          enrolling in the MBA program.                                               
               We also distinguish our facts from cases involving taxpayers           
          embarking on a course of study that qualified them for a                    
          professional certification or license.  Courts considering those            
          factors have often found that the education expenses were not               
          deductible, even where the taxpayer performed many of the same              
          activities before the education.  For instance, the Court denied            
          taxpayers’ deduction for law school expenses on four occasions              
          because law was a field of study that led the taxpayers to                  
          qualify for the new trade or business of being an attorney.  See            
          Bodley v. Commissioner, 56 T.C. 1357 (1971); Weiler v.                      
          Commissioner, supra; Weiszmann v. Commissioner, supra at 1110-              
          1111; Galligan v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2002-150, affd. 61               







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