- 7 -
Respondent argues that petitioners are not entitled to
recover anything for the value relating to petitioners’ research
time.
The courts have consistently held that under section 7430
pro se taxpayers may not be awarded an amount reflecting the
value of their personal time in handling the litigation, even
though fees taxpayers pay to attorneys to handle the litigation
would be recoverable. See, e.g., Frisch v. Commissioner, 87 T.C.
838, 846-847 (1986) (pro se taxpayer, who also was an attorney,
not entitled to the value of his time in handling the
litigation). Petitioners are not entitled to an award under
section 7430 with respect to the value or costs relating to
petitioners’ research time.
Petitioners also argue that, at the least, they should be
able to recover wages petitioner lost on May 4, 2004, the day of
the Court hearing, a Monday on which petitioner would have worked
had it not been necessary to attend the hearing. At the hearing,
petitioner acknowledged that he had paid vacation leave available
from his employer in order to attend the May 4, 2004, hearing,
but that he was not planning to take such paid leave. The
evidence does not indicate whether petitioner ultimately took
paid leave, and we do not know whether petitioner actually lost
any wages to attend the May 4, 2004, hearing. For lack of
substantiation and without deciding the legal issue as to whether
petitioner as a pro se litigant would have been entitled to
recover as litigation costs an amount reflecting lost wages, we
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011