Hand v. Commissioner

16 T.C. 1410, 1951 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 153
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedJune 21, 1951
DocketDocket No. 29052
StatusPublished
Cited by49 cases

This text of 16 T.C. 1410 (Hand 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
Hand v. Commissioner, 16 T.C. 1410, 1951 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 153 (tax 1951).

Opinion

OPINION.

Black, Judge:

Petitioner has not filed any brief in this proceeding but we have considered his case as carefully as if he had.

Petitioner no longer presses his second assignment of error which in substance was that petitioner is entitled to an additional deduction of $304.50,1 being the excess of nonbusiness deductions claimed over the optional standard deduction of $500 which the Commissioner has applied in his determination of petitioner’s income tax liability. Petitioner at the hearing conceded that he would be unable to produce vouchers and receipts or other evidence in substantiation of the $872 deductions which he took on his return for contributions, interest, taxes, and miscellaneous items. Therefore, he accepted the optional standard deduction of $500 which the Commissioner allowed in his determination of the deficiency. That adjustment is no longer in controversy.

Petitioner at the hearing continued to press his first assignment of error which was:

a. The Commissioner erred in holding that petitioner was not an independent contractor, i. e., not in the practice of a profession, and in the disallowance as a deduction from gross income the amount of $2,221.50 claimed as a deduction by petitioner, in his return, as necessary expenses incurred in the production of a substantial portion of his income and in carrying on a trade or business, for the production or collection of income, and were deductible in accordance with Section 23 of the Internal Revenue Code.

Petitioner claims certain expenditures amounting to $2,221.50 and paid during the taxable year qualify as deductions from gross income under the provisions of section 23 of the Internal Revenue Code. Petitioner has not referred to the subsections of section 23 upon which he bases his contentions for the deductions, but we will consider, nevertheless, each of the appropriate subsections • of section 23, namely, 23 (a) (1) (A),23 (a) (2) and23 (1). Section23 (a) (1) (A) reads as follows:

SEC. 23. DEDUCTIONS FROM GROSS INCOME.
In computing net income there shall be allowed as deductions:
(a) Expenses.—
(1) Trade oe business expenses.—
(A) In general. — All the ordinary and necessary expenses paid or incurred during the taxable year in carrying on any trade or' business, including a reasonable allowance for salaries or other compensation for personal services actually rendered; traveling expenses (including the entire amount expended for meals and lodging) while away from home in the pursuit of a trade or business; and rentals or other payments required to be made as a condition to the continued use or possession, for purposes of the trade or business, of property to which the taxpayer has not taken or is not taking title or in which he has no equity.

Section 23 (a) (1) (A) of the Code distinguishes, perhaps arbi-. trarily, between expenditures incurred by a taxpayer in connection with his trade or business, and expenditures incurred by an employee in connection with his employment. Petitioner contends that he is engaged in a trade or business as a professional man and not as an employee. The term trade or business includes the practice of a profession, Treasury Regulations 111, section 29.22 (n)-l providing “The practice of a profession, not as an employee, is considered the conduct of a trade or business within the meaning of such section.” Section 22 (n) (1) of the Code explains the term trade or business so as to exclude therefrom an employee:

SEC. 22. GROSS INCOME.
*******
(n) Definition of “Adjusted Gross Income”. — As used in this chapter the term “adjusted gross income” means the gross income minus—
(1) Trade and business deductions. — The deductions allowed by section 23 which are attributable to a trade or business carried on by the taxpayer, if such trade or business does not consist of the performance of services by the taxpayer as an employee; [Emphasis added.]

The determination of whether a taxpayer has a relationship of an employee or an independent contractor is primarily a question of fact, see Raymond E. Kershner, 14 T. C. 168, and cases cited therein. As disclosed by our findings of fact, the only receipts reported by petitioner on his income tax return were the salaries received from educational institutions. Petitioner was employed during the taxable year as a school teacher. He taught in the public schools of Chicago and also taught night school at De Paul University in Chicago. He was clearly an employee of these two agencies. We are unable to see where any of the $2,079.50 so-called business deductions which petitioner claimed on his return were properly attributable to any business carried on by petitioner within the meaning of the applicable provisions of the Code. For example, he claimed $675 as rent which he described in Schedule C of his return as of household in lieu of office rent.” Petitioner’s testimony as to this claimed deduction was in substance that he rented an apartment in the City of Chicago during 1946 at $65 a month for himself and family. His testimony was to the effect that he did some of what might be termed his “homework” in his apartment and, therefore, he thought that three-fourths of his apartment rent should be attributed to rental for business purposes. We see no basis for sucli a deduction. As a school teacher he doubtless had to devote some time at home to grading papers, preparing to teach lessons and things of that sort and doubtless he used some room or space in his apartment as a study for such purpose, but we know of no law or regulation which would permit him to allocate a part of his apartment rent for this purpose and then take it as a business expense. After considering the facts, we have determined that petitioner re ceived income as an employee during the taxable year and that he was not engaged in a trade or business.

Petitioner’s deductions under the provisions of section 23 (a) (1) are limited, therefore, to the deductions permitted an employee. Under the provisions of section 23 (a) (1) (A) of the Code, as further explained by section 22 (n) (2), deductions from gross income of an employee are allowed only for “expenses of travel, meals, and lodging while away from home, paid or incurred by the taxpayer in connection with the performance by him of his services as an employee.” On his tax return petitioner claimed the following expenses, which might be classified as traveling expenses:

Depreciation on automobile-$300. 00
Gas, Oil & Oar Service_ 250. 00
Car Repairs_ 142.50
Car Maintenance_ 97. 50
Garage Rent_f_ 135.00
Car Insurance_ 95. 00
Carfare & Mise_ 19. 50

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Bluebook (online)
16 T.C. 1410, 1951 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 153, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hand-v-commissioner-tax-1951.