Miller v. Commissioner

1975 T.C. Memo. 279, 34 T.C.M. 1207, 1975 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 95
Procedural entryThis page is a short order in Miller v. Commissioner. Read the opinion of the Court — 65 T.C. 612
United States Tax Court·Decided September 4, 1975·No. Docket No. 6127-73.·Unpublished

Opinion

LARRY A. MILLER, Petitioner v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent
Miller v. Commissioner
Docket No. 6127-73.
United States Tax Court
T.C. Memo 1975-279; 1975 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 95; 34 T.C.M. (CCH) 1207; T.C.M. (RIA) 750279;
September 4, 1975, Filed
Jay Fred Cohen, for the petitioner.
Robert B. Perry, for the respondent.

SCOTT

MEMORANDUM FINDINGS OF FACT AND OPINION

SCOTT, Judge: Respondent determined a deficiency in petitioner's Federal income tax for the taxable year 1971 in the amount of $149.

The issue for decision is whether petitioner is entitled to deduct as a charitable contribution under section 170, I.R.C. 1954, 1 various expenses incurred in connection with his activities as a member and cadet officer of the Civil Air Patrol.

FINDINGS OF FACT

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

Petitioner, who resided in Baltimore, Maryland at the time his petition in this case was filed, was an unmarried individual in 1971. He filed his Federal income tax return for the calendar year 1971 with the District Director of Internal Revenue at Baltimore, Maryland.

Petitioner, *98 who was 18 years old in 1971, had joined the Civil Air Patrol in September, 1964. In 1971 he was the chairman of both the Maryland Wing Advisory Council and the Middle East Region Cadet Council of the Civil Air Patrol. He was also the State Cadet Ranger Training Officer, which is the ground rescue force of the Civil Air Patrol. His responsibilities in this capacity were training of other cadets, establishing ground rescue units, and teaching American Red Cross first-aid classes.

During 1971, petitioner was also a Lieutenant Colonel in the Gwynn Oak Squadron of the Maryland Wing of the Civil Air Patrol. His brother, Michael Paul Miller, was the unit commander of this wing. This unit met once each week for 50 weeks and also had two staff meetings for planning purposes at the end of each year. During 1971 petitioner attended each and every one of these meetings. The activities at these meetings included instruction on aerospace subjects, current events, moral leadership, military leadership, and military drill and ceremony.

Petitioner's positions with the Civil Air Patrol were all voluntary. He was paid no salary and received no income from his activities with the Civil Air Patrol. *99 Petitioner received reimbursement for certain expenses which he incurred in attending regional meetings of the Civil Air Patrol, but also incurred many expenses in connection with his volunteer work for the Civil Air Patrol for which he received no reimbursement.

During the course of the year 1971, petitioner participated in training missions and at least two actual rescue or search missions. He also attended several conferences and a ranger training exercise during the course of that year. In addition to his squadron meetings he attended Wing Headquarters meetings at least once per week, held at the Baltimore and Washington International Airport.

The Civil Air Patrol is a volunteer civilian auxiliary of the United States Air Force which was created in 1946

[to] provide aviation education and training especially to its senior and cadet members; to encourage and foster civil aviation in local communities and to provide an organization of private citizens with adequate facilities to assist in meeting local and national emergencies. [Act of July 1, 1946, Pub. L. 476, 79th Cong., 2d Sess., 60 Stat. 346, 36 U.S.C. sec. 202.]

The Civil Air Patrol is listed*100 as an organization to which contributions are deductible under section 170 in Publication No. 78, Cumulative List, at page 149. The organization holds a group exemption whereby subordinate units of the Civil Air Patrol are included in the public charity status.

In order to more ably perform his supervisory and emergency functions with the Civil Air Patrol, petitioner maintained and purchased communication equipment for his home and automobile. The Civil Air Patrol uses the two-way wireless radio extensively as a form of communication for both the transmission of emergency reports and official routine administrative information. Having the communication equipment which he purchased available was helpful to petitioner in performing his volunteer work with the Civil Air Patrol. If petitioner had not maintained such equipment the telephone would have been the only means of communication open to him except on specific missions when communications equipment was furnished by the Civil Air Patrol for use of participants in the mission.

The Civil Air Patrol has frequencies assigned to it by the Federal Communications Commission for its exclusive use.

The Civil Air Patrol makes frequent*101 use of the radio in the normal conduct of its affairs. The Civil Air Patrol conducts three "nets" per day on its assigned frequencies. A "net" is a regularly scheduled time on a Civil Air Patrol frequency when all personnel may come onto the designated frequency at a specific time in order to conduct official business of the Civil Air Patrol.

Petitioner owned three radios that he used in connection with his Civil Air Patrol activities. Two of the radios were in his home and one was in his automobile. Petitioner had installed in each of his radios in his home crystals that allowed only frequencies of the Civil Air Patrol to be received on the set. The automobile mounted radio was not limited by an installation to receipt of only frequencies assigned to the Civil Air Patrol.

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Miller v. Commissioner, 1975 T.C. Memo. 279, 34 T.C.M. 1207, 1975 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 95 (tax 1975).

1975 T.C. Memo. 279 (Miller v. Commissioner) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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