Churchman v. Commissioner

68 T.C. 696, 1977 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 69
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedAugust 8, 1977
DocketDocket No. 485-75
StatusPublished
Cited by102 cases

This text of 68 T.C. 696 (Churchman v. Commissioner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Tax Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Churchman v. Commissioner, 68 T.C. 696, 1977 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 69 (tax 1977).

Opinion

Forrester, Judge:

Respondent has determined the following deficiencies in petitioner’s Federal income taxes:

Taxable year Amount of deficiency

1970. $2,491.33

1971. 1,053.00

1972. 1,178.00

Concessions having been made, the sole issue presented for our decision is whether the artistic activities of petitioner Gloria Churchman were not engaged in for profit so that section 1831 applies.

FINDINGS OF FACT

Some of the facts have been stipulated and are so found.

Petitioners C. West and Gloria Churchman, husband and wife, resided in Mill Valley, Calif., at the time they filed the petition herein. Petitioners filed a joint Federal income tax return for the taxable year 1970 with the Internal Revenue Service Center at Ogden, Utah. Their joint returns for the taxable years 1971 and 1972 were filed with the Internal Revenue Service Center at Fresno, Calif.

Petitioner C. West Churchman is employed as a professor at the University of California at Berkeley and he is also a lecturer, writer, and consultant. Petitioner Gloria Churchman (hereinafter Gloria or petitioner) is an artist who has been involved in artistic activities for 20 years. She mainly paints but also sculpts, designs, draws, and builds; writes short stories, poems, and songs, performs in films, and has recently made a film. In addition to an undergraduate degree, she has 2V2 years of graduate work in psychology and 2% years of work in art school. She has taught courses at San Francisco State College, at the University of California Extension, and the Mendocino Art Center as well as given numerous workshops independently of any institution. During the years in issue, petitioner devoted a substantial amount of her time to her artistic activities and she held no other job except as a housewife. Petitioner does her artwork in a home studio which was built for that purpose.

In 1969, petitioner designed and ran a gallery where her work was shown and she sold a number of her posters at such gallery. During the period in question, petitioner exhibited her paintings and sculptures at least once a year at commercial galleries or other places where the public might see and purchase them. She has had one-woman shows at galleries in San Francisco and San Rafael, Calif. In the year prior to trial herein, petitioner had three shows. In addition, petitioner opens her home studio to the public at least once a year.

Petitioner maintains a mailing list of about 200 names of students,.friends, customers of the art gallery which she ran, and members of organizations to which she belongs, including an art club. When she has a show petitioner sends an announcement of it to the people on such list. In addition, gallery shows are announced by the gallery through newspapers as well as the gallery’s own mailing list.

Petitioner began making posters and books in order to make her work more available to the public and more profitable, and she went to galleries in New York and San Francisco seeking to have her work shown there but she was largely unsuccessful. Such galleries, however, encouraged petitioner to go on with her work in the hope that it might one day be shown. At the time of trial, she was working on a book in which much of the work that petitioner has done in the past 20 years will be reproduced and thereby made more available to the public.

Petitioner has sold some of her paintings and posters, including four which were bought by Marshall Fields & Co. of Chicago for use in their displays of interior decoration, a series of drawings, and a reproduction of one of her series of "self-portraits” for a book. At the time of trial, petitioner had six paintings for which she would ask $1,000,10 for which she would ask $500, and another 20 or 30 for which she would ask $200, in addition to a film which is for sale and a number of original drawings.

One of petitioner’s sculptures won first prize in the Richmond Art Show. A newspaper article was written about her, with pictures of her work, in 1972, and articles about her have also recently appeared in a number of women’s publications. In 1973, she published a book of "stories, drawings and a few songs.” Petitioner received a grant from the Demeter Project in San Francisco to do a film which she completed prior to trial and which was for sale at that time, and she was offered a job to be an art director and set designer for a feature-length movie to be made in New York. Also, in about 1973, she was represented at the Woman’s Spirituality Conference in Boston.

Petitioner made occasional gifts of her work to friends and relatives. She was not dependent upon the sale of her artwork for her livelihood either at the time of trial or during the preceding 20 years.

Petitioner keeps a notebook in which she records what she has sold and to whom it was sold. Petitioner keeps receipts of her expenses. She does not keep a separate bank account for her artistic activities nor does she keep a record of the occasional gifts of her work to friends and relatives.

During the 20 years that petitioner has pursued her artistic activities, the income from the sale of her artwork has not exceeded her expenses in any year. Petitioner reported no art-related income whatsoever for the taxable year 1970 and 1971, but she reported $250 of such income for 1972.

On their 1970 return, petitioners claimed a $3,410 deduction for "studio and study office.” Respondent allowed $650 of such amount as a deduction for "home office” expenses of petitioner C. West Churchman and disallowed the remainder. On their 1971 return, petitioners claimed a $3,120 deduction for "studio and study office” but again respondent allowed only $650. On their 1972 return, petitioners claimed a business loss in the amount of $1,172 ($250 gross receipts minus deductions totaling $1,422) from Gloria’s artistic activities. Respondent disallowed the entire amount of such loss. The parties now agree that if petitioners establish that Gloria’s art-related expenses are properly deductible, then the amount so deductible as a business loss from Gloria’s artistic activities in 1972 is $650 and a like amount is also deductible in both 1970 and 1971 as a home-studio expense.

OPINION

Respondent argues that petitioner’s artistic activities are not engaged in for profit so that section 1832 applies and the claimed deduction of petitioner’s art-related expenses is not allowable. Section 183 allows deductions for ordinary and necessary expenses arising from an activity not engaged in for profit only to the extent of the gross income derived from such activity less the amount of those deductions3 which are allowable regardless of whether or not the activity is engaged in for profit. Petitioner, on the other hand, argues that her artistic activities were engaged in for profit so that her art-related expenses are deductible in full under sections 162 and 165.

In order to prevail, petitioner must show that she pursued her artistic activities during the years in question with the objective of making a profit. Sec. 1.183-2(a), Income Tax Regs.; Hirsch v.

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Bluebook (online)
68 T.C. 696, 1977 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 69, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/churchman-v-commissioner-tax-1977.