Montgomery v. Commissioner

64 T.C. 175, 1975 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 152
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedMay 7, 1975
DocketDocket No. 4072-73
StatusPublished
Cited by51 cases

This text of 64 T.C. 175 (Montgomery 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
Montgomery v. Commissioner, 64 T.C. 175, 1975 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 152 (tax 1975).

Opinion

Simpson, Judge:

The Commissioner determined a deficiency in the petitioners’ Federal income tax for 1971 of $596.86. The issues to be decided are: (1) Whether the petitioner George Montgomery was “away from home” within the meaning of section 162(a)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code of 19541 while attending legislative sessions in Lansing, Mich., and (2) whether the petitioners have established that they are entitled to deduct an amount in excess of the home office expense allowed by the Commissioner.

FINDINGS OF FACT

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

The petitioners, George and J. W. Montgomery, husband and wife, had their legal address in Detroit, Mich., at the time of the filing of their petition. They filed their joint Federal income tax return for 1971 with the District Director of Internal Revenue, Detroit, Mich. Mr. Montgomery will sometimes be referred to as the petitioner.

Mr. Montgomery was a member of the Michigan House of Representatives (House) representing a district in the City of Detroit. He was a House majority whip, chairman of the Committee on Taxation, and a member of the education and labor committees. Being a legislator was his sole occupation in 1971. During 1971, he was serving his eighth 2-year term as a representative.

The petitioner’s principal duties as a legislator consisted of attending House sessions and committee meetings. The House sessions were always held in Lansing. The committee meetings were normally held there but were infrequently held elsewhere. The petitioner’s duties as a legislator also required him to meet with various groups of his constituents in Detroit to discuss their views concerning legislation. Such groups included the Detroit Board of Education and the Planned Parenthood Association.

The House began its 1971 session on January 13 and ended on December 30. During 1971, it was in session for 155 days, of which the petitioner attended 151.

In a typical week, when the House was in session, the petitioner drove the 85 miles from his residence in Detroit to Lansing on Monday afternoon. From Monday evening until Friday afternoon, he attended legislative sessions and committee meetings, returning to Detroit later on Friday. During 1971, he met with various groups of constituents in Detroit on 75 days on weekends. He twice made out-of-State trips for a total of 9 days on legislative business when the House was in recess. He was in Florida for the month of January for personal reasons.

While in Detroit, the petitioner resided in the house which he owned there. The residence was normally unoccupied when the petitioner was away, since Mrs. Montgomery lived in Florida for health reasons and made only occasional visits to Detroit. When in Lansing, he stayed at the Olds Plaza Hotel and ate at various restaurants. In 1971, he spent $3,775 for meals, lodging, and incidental living expenses in Lansing. The House reimbursed him for $2,695 of these expenses. The petitioner was also reimbursed for his out-of-State trips and mileage between Detroit and Lansing each week, but these amounts were not challenged by the Commissioner.

For 1971, the petitioner filed a City of Detroit income tax return. He paid a tax based on the 2-percent resident rate — the nonresident rate is 1 percent. For that year, he also filed a City of Lansing income _tax return paying the VPercent nonresident rate — the resident rate is 1 percent.

The petitioner’s house in tietroit, consisting of five rooms, was one-half of a duplex. It was purchased in 1947 for $11,000 including improvements. It had a useful life of 40 years. The petitioner used parts of two rooms constituting no more than one-fourth of the house as an office for legislative work. All of the office furniture and equipment were fully depreciated. Repairs costing $300 were made on the house in 1971, and utilities and insurance for it cost $480 for that year.

The petitioner claimed an employee business expense of $3,7572 in 1971 for meals and lodging expenses incurred in Lansing and deducted that amount to the extent it exceeded his reimbursements. He also deducted $450 for his home office expenses. The Commissioner disallowed the expenses incurred in Lansing, but allowed $2,000 for living expenses incurred in Detroit. He also determined that the petitioner was not entitled to deduct more than $240 for home office expenses.

OPINION

We must first decide whether the petitioner is entitled to deduct the living expenses which he incurred during 1971 in Lansing, Mich., while performing his duties as a legislator. Personal living expenses are usually nondeductible. Sec. 262. However, section 162(a)(2)3 allows a taxpayer to deduct certain living expenses if they are traveling expenses paid or incurred “while away from home in the pursuit of a trade or business.” There is no dispute over the amount of the traveling expenses incurred by the petitioner while in Lansing; thus, the deducti-bility of such expenses turns solely on the question of whether he has met the legal requirements established by section 162(a)(2).

In Commissioner v. Flowers, 326 U.S. 465, 470 (1946), the Supreme Court stated the three statutory requirements for a traveling expense deduction:

(1) The expense must be a reasonable and necessary traveling expense * * *
(2) The expense must be incurred “while away from home.”
(3) The expense must be incurred in pursuit of business. This means that there must be a direct connection between the expenditure and the carrying on of the trade or business of the taxpayer or of his employer. Moreover, such an expenditure must be necessary or appropriate to the development and pursuit of the business or trade.

In this case, the outcome depends upon whether the petitioner was away from home while incurring the expenses in Lansing.

A situation analogous to this case first came before this Court almost 40 years ago. George W. Lindsay, 34 B.T.A. 840 (1936). Mr. Lindsay was a Member of the Congress of the United States, representing a district in Brooklyn. While in Washington attending sessions of the Congress and performing his other legislative duties, he stayed at a hotel and sought to deduct the cost of his meals and lodging while in Washington. This Court found that most of Mr. Lindsay’s duties as a Congressman had to be performed in Washington, that Washington was his principal place of business, and that therefore, he was not away from home while in Washington.

In 1946, legislation was proposed specifically to reverse our holding in Lindsay as it applied to Members of Congress. S. 2177, 79th Cong., 2d Sess. 79-80 (May 31, 1946). However, Congress did not adopt the proposal at that time; instead, it provided its members with a tax-free living expense allowance. Sec. 601(b), Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946, ch. 753, 60 Stat. 812, 850.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
64 T.C. 175, 1975 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 152, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/montgomery-v-commissioner-tax-1975.