Pansy V. Panages - Page 6

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          and amounts of her winnings, tips, and ATM charges and attached             
          those records to her Schedule C.  Respondent agreed at trial that           
          petitioner kept meticulous records.  Nevertheless, on her Form              
          1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, petitioner listed her              
          occupation as “Floral Manager”.                                             
               For gambling to reach the level of a trade or business                 
          activity it must be “pursued full time, in good faith, and with             
          regularity, to the production of income for a livelihood, and * *           
          * not a mere hobby”.  Commissioner v. Groetzinger, 480 U.S. 23,             
          35 (1987).  The Supreme Court, in Groetzinger, held that a                  
          taxpayer who spent between 60 and 80 hours per week at dog races            
          qualified as a professional gambler even though the taxpayer                
          received income during the year from interest, dividends, capital           
          gains, and salary earned before his job was terminated.                     
          Likewise, a taxpayer who spent 35 hours a week at a horse track             
          after losing his job as a salesman and who was seeking a new                
          sales job qualified as a professional gambler for purposes of               
          section 162.  Rusnak v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1987-249.                  
               Unlike the taxpayers in the cited cases, petitioner did not            
          pursue gambling full time.  She gambled regularly but only after            
          she finished working at her flower shop.  She frequently stopped            
          at Smith’s to play the slot machines on her way home from work.             
          As she reported on her tax return, her occupation was “floral               
          manager”.  The fact that petitioner earned income from                      






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