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shows that her round trip travel to those interviews was 28.02
miles per trip, for a total of 84.06 miles. Petitioners did not
present receipts for the actual cost of this travel, but we may
apply the standard mileage rate to determine the allowable
deduction.4 The standard mileage rate for 2002 was 36.5 cents per
mile, so that the total allowable deduction amounted to $30.68.
Unlike the work search record, Mrs. Harrell’s travel log was
not prepared contemporaneously with the purported travel and
appears inaccurate in some respects. The travel log includes
entries that do not appear on the work search record that was
prepared contemporaneously for unemployment compensation purposes.
The job seeker, in preparing the work search record, is
exhorted to document each employer that had been contacted, and
those records (certified by Mrs. Harrell) contain only three
reports of job interviews. Yet the travel log indicates that she
attended eight interviews and traveled on more than 80 occasions,
for a total of more than 5,000 miles, to apply for jobs. We find
that the travel log is unreliable and does not constitute adequate
4The standard mileage rate is a matter of administrative
convenience by which a taxpayer may compute the amount of
deductible automobile expenses using a standard rate rather than
separately establishing the amount of an expenditure for travel
or transportation. Sec. 1.274-5(j), Income Tax Regs., in part,
grants the Commissioner the authority to establish a method under
which a taxpayer may use mileage rates to substantiate, for
purposes of sec. 274(d), the expense of using a vehicle while
traveling away from home. See Rev. Proc. 2001-54, 2001-2 C.B.
530.
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