Kadivar v. Commissioner

1973 T.C. Memo. 95, 32 T.C.M. 427, 1973 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 190
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedApril 24, 1973
DocketDocket No. 1302-72.
StatusUnpublished

This text of 1973 T.C. Memo. 95 (Kadivar 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
Kadivar v. Commissioner, 1973 T.C. Memo. 95, 32 T.C.M. 427, 1973 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 190 (tax 1973).

Opinion

ESFANDIAR KADIVAR, Petitioner v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent
Kadivar v. Commissioner
Docket No. 1302-72.
United States Tax Court
T.C. Memo 1973-95; 1973 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 190; 32 T.C.M. (CCH) 427; T.C.M. (RIA) 73095;
April 24, 1973, Filed
Esfandiar Kadivar, pro se.
Rudolf L. Jansen, for the respondent.

TIETJENS

MEMORANDUM FINDINGS OF FACT AND OPINION

TIETJENS, Judge: The Commissioner determined deficiencies in the 1970 income tax liability of Esfandiar*191 Kadivar in the amount of $3,137.58. There are 3 issues:

(1) Whether petitioner properly excluded from income $3,600 of the combined payments he received during 1970 from the hospital where he completed a medical internship and from the hospital where he commenced a surgical residency program. 2

(2) Whether petitioner may deduct $976 for travel expenses outside the United States; petitioner claimed a deduction of $3,500 for such expenses in his return, but conceded that he properly could claim only $976 of that amount.

(3) Whether petitioner can properly deduct $1,416 for travel expenses within the United States; petitioner claimed $1,665 and the Commissioner allowed $249 of that amount in the statutory notice.

FINDINGS OF FACT

Some of the facts are stipulated and are so found.

On the date he filed the petition in this case, Esfandiar Kadivar was a resident of Cincinnati, Ohio. He filed an individual income tax return for the calendar year 1970 with the district director of internal revenue at Cincinnati, Ohio.

In 1967 petitioner received the degree of Doctor of Medicine from Tehran University Medical School, Tehran, Iran. After serving as a licensed physician*192 in the armed forces of Iran, he came to this country under a certificate of eligibility for an exchange visitor granted by the United States Department of State. Because he lacked the credentials to practice medicine in the United States, he commenced an internship program at the Miami Valley Hospital, Dayton, Ohio 3 on May 12, 1969. He completed the internship on June 27, 1970 and 4 days later began a four year residency program in surgery at Good Samaritan Hospital, Cincinnati, Ohio.During 1970 Kadivar received payments of $4,673.41 and $4,242.86 from Miami Valley and Good Samaaritan respectively, as disclosed in the W-2 Forms furnished petitioner by the hospitals. Petitioner earned $11,185.50 at St. Luke's Hospital of Campbell County, Kentucky. He did not exclude that amount from income.

On line 17 of the 1970 Form 1040, petitioner entered an adjustment to income in the amount of $3600, the maximum allowable exclusion under section 117, Internal Revenue Code of 1954, 1 for amounts received as a scholarship or fellowship by an individual who is not a candidate for a degree. The question is whether the amounts paid petitioner by Miami Valley and*193 Good Samaritan were a scholarship or fellowship grant, or whether such amounts were compensation for services rendered by petitioner to the hospitals.

The intern and resident programs have substantially identical goals and objectives and in our experience with cases of this nature are unexceptional. At Miami Valley, petitioner received $650/month for the first 1-1/2 months of work; thereafter he received $750. At Good Samaritan he was paid in accordance with a pay-scale that provided $10,000 per annum for first year residents; he now receives $11,260 as a third year resident. Kadivar had no discussion with representatives of either of the hospitals concerning a fellowship grant. The payments he received were not dependent upon his financial needs.

In addition to these payments, petitioner received various perquisites such as free meals while on duty, his uniforms, free laundry service, and professional liability insurance; at Good Samaritan premiums for Blue Cross Hospitalization insurance, fees for membership in the academy of medicine, and certain professional meeting*194 expenses were paid on his behalf. At both hospitals he was entitled to 2-weeks paid vacation and sick leave.

At Miami Valley petitioner generally worked from 7 a.m. until 5 p.m. and did night duty every third night. At Good Samaritan he worked approximately 120 hours average per week 5 in accordance with a published schedule of rotation. The residency program was designed to rotate the residents into other hospitals in Cincinnati. Petitioner has rotated at Providence Hospital and Longview Hospital and has performed the same functions at those institutions as he had at his home base at Good Samaritan.

Both Miami Valley and Good Samaritan are organizations that satisfy the conditions for exclusion set forth in section 117(b) (2) (A). The former is an 800 bed nonprofit community hospital. During 1969 it discharged 25,859 inpatients and had approximately 80,383 outpatient visits. The constitution of Miami Valley recites four objectives of the hospital, each oriented toward the care of the sick and injured and the promotion of the general health of the community, including the carrying on of scientific research related to the care of the sick insofar as the trustees of*195 the hospital deem feasible. Good Samaritan has a capacity and experiences a volume of patronage comparable to that of Miami Valley. Similarly it is oriented toward patient care and carrying on medical research incident thereto. 6

At Miami Valley petitioner received training in various medical specialties, including surgery, internal medicine, obstetrics, gynecology, pathology, and radiology.

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Related

Proskey v. Commissioner
51 T.C. 918 (U.S. Tax Court, 1969)
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Anderson v. Commissioner
54 T.C. 1547 (U.S. Tax Court, 1970)
Moll v. Commissioner
57 T.C. 579 (U.S. Tax Court, 1972)
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58 T.C. 721 (U.S. Tax Court, 1972)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1973 T.C. Memo. 95, 32 T.C.M. 427, 1973 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 190, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kadivar-v-commissioner-tax-1973.