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the $1,965 deduction for cleaning expenses and did not offer any
receipts to substantiate any cleaning expenses.
Where business clothes are suitable for general wear, their
cost is generally not deductible. However, where custom and
usage forbid wearing a uniform when off duty, deduction is
allowed. The cost of maintaining clothes for work is deductible
when the purchase price was deductible. Hynes v. Commissioner,
74 T.C. 1266, 1290 (1980).
We accept petitioner’s testimony that professional cleaning
was at times necessary for his uniforms, and we find that it
would have been improper for petitioner to wear either his DHS
uniform or his military uniform when off duty. We conclude that
petitioner is entitled to a deduction for uniform cleaning in the
amount of $480 for 2003.9
Shoes
Petitioner claimed a $225 deduction for expenses relating to
work shoes. Petitioner testified that he had an allowance for
shoes but would occasionally have his shoes repaired and that he
spent $225 in 2003 on shoe repair. Petitioner estimated that
each heel repair cost $25 to $40 but did not offer any receipts
or any details of how often such repairs were necessary.
9 When estimating the taxpayer’s expenses, the Court’s
findings bear heavily against the taxpayer whose inexactitude is
of his own making. Cohan v. Commissioner, 39 F.2d 540, 544 (2d
Cir. 1930). We allow 15 cleanings of his military uniform at $12
each and 50 cleanings of his DHS uniform at $6 each.
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