Rutz v. Commissioner

66 T.C. 879, 1976 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 57
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedAugust 18, 1976
DocketDocket No. 3177-74
StatusPublished
Cited by40 cases

This text of 66 T.C. 879 (Rutz 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
Rutz v. Commissioner, 66 T.C. 879, 1976 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 57 (tax 1976).

Opinion

Forrester, Judge:

Respondent has determined deficiencies in petitioner’s Federal income tax for the taxable years 1971 and 1972 in the amounts of $1,682.65 and $2,136.54, respectively. The sole issue presented for our decision is whether certain claimed deductions for gifts, entertainment, meals, boat operations, and depreciation should be disallowed under the provisions of section 274.1

FINDINGS OF FACT

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

Petitioner Frank Paul Rutz, unmarried during 1971 and 1972, resided in Portland, Oreg., at the time he filed the petition herein. He filed individual Federal income tax returns for the years 1971 and 1972 with the District Director of Internal Revenue in Oregon.

Petitioner has been in practice as a chiropractic physician in Portland since 1946. During the years 1971 and 1972, he engaged in this activity as a sole practitioner, and this was his only business pursuit.

In 1969, petitioner purchased a used Fairliner Cruiser boat. On September 4,1971, petitioner traded in the Fairliner Cruiser for a new 32-foot Carver Cruiser boat for a total purchase price of $19,478.80, including the trade-in value of the Fairliner Cruiser.

On his returns for the taxable years 1971 and 1972, petitioner claimed business deductions as follows:

1971 1972
$1,681.47 $1,512.44 Public relations_
2,155.73 1,628.79 Entertainment_
474.26 736.83 Sales promotion_
1,201.56 1,807.96 Cruiser operations_
808.76 2,426,10 Cruiser depreciation_
6,321.78 8,112.12

The above expenses were incurred in connection with meals and parties that petitioner hosted, cruises on petitioner’s boat during which he provided liquor and snacks, and gifts made by petitioner.

In his statutory notice of deficiency, respondent disallowed these deductions pursuant to section 274, except for amounts totaling $318.10 and $296.60 in 1971 and 1972, respectively.

Petitioner maintained a logbook for the boat which consisted of a pocket-sized notebook in which he contemporaneously recorded the date of each trip, the names of his passengers, the boat’s trip meter readings before and after the cruise, and, in some cases, the weather, time, and cruises on which the boat was taken. For purposes of the trial of this case, petitioner compiled a table from this logbook identifying whether passengers were patients before or after the date indicated, and whether these passengers referred patients to petitioner. Petitioner also prepared monthly summaries of expenses for the tax years in question from receipts in his possession. These monthly summaries stated the date and amount of the expenditures and, in some cases, the names of the persons entertained. The underlying receipts for 4 months of the 2-year period were submitted into evidence by petitioner as illustrative of the receipts that were retained by petitioner for each month. These illustrative receipts name the place of the entertainment and, in most cases, the persons entertained.

Evidence was introduced bearing only on the deductibility of the disputed 1971 deductions. The parties have agreed that the disputed 1971 deductions are representative of the disputed 1972 deductions and have stipulated that once we have determined the percentage of the disputed 1971 deductions that is allowable, this percentage will be applied to the disputed 1972 deductions to determine their allowability.

In 1969, an Internal Revenue Service agent informed petitioner that, if he wanted to claim deductions for entertainment expenses, written records stating names, places, and purpose of the entertainment should be maintained for such expenses.

Most of petitioner’s patients became his personal friends and part of petitioner’s reason for inviting patients onto his boat was the personal friendship that he felt for them.

Petitioner concedes the nondeductibility of expenses for membership dues totaling $275 and $300 in 1971 and 1972, respectively. Respondent concedes that petitioner may claim deductions for 1971 of $48.29 in addition to those business expenses he has previously allowed for that year.

OPINION

During the years at issue, petitioner claimed business deductions for meals, entertainment, gifts, and boat operation and depreciation totaling $6,321.78 in 1971 and $8,112.12 in 1972. Respondent has disallowed most of these claimed deductions. Respondent argues that petitioner has failed to satisfy the substantiation requirements of section 274(d) and, additionally, that such deductions do not meet the “directly related” test of section 274(a).2 In view of our holding that petitioner has failed to satisfy the requirements of section 274(d), we do not reach the section 274(a) issue.

Section 274(d) states:

(d) Substantiation Required — No deduction shall be allowed—
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(2) for any item with respect to an activity which is of a type generally considered to constitute entertainment, amusement, or recreation, or with respect to a facility used in connection with such an activity, or
(3) for any expense for gifts,
unless the taxpayer substantiates by adequate records or by sufficient evidence corroborating his own statement (A) the amount of such expense or other item, (B) the time and place of the travel, entertainment, amusement, recreation, or use of the facility, or the date and description of the gift, (C) the business purpose of the expense or other item, and (D) the business relationship to the taxpayer of persons entertained, using the facility, or receiving the gift. * * *

The Income Tax Regulations, promulgated pursuant to section 274(h), amplify and clarify the statutory terms “adequate records” and “sufficient evidence.” These regulations have been held to be generally in accordance with the statute. William F. Sanford, 50 T.C. 823 (1968), affd. per curiam 412 F.2d 201 (2d Cir. 1969).

Under respondent’s regulations, in order to meet the “adequate records” requirement of section 274(d), a taxpayer must maintain an account book, diary, statement of expense, or similar record which is prepared contemporaneously to the expenditure. These contemporaneous records, in combination with certain documentary evidence (such as receipts, paid bills, or similar evidence supporting an expenditure), must establish each element — amount, time, place, business purpose, and business relationship — of an expenditure. Sec. 1.274-5(c)(2), Income Tax Regs.

In the instant case, the logbook and monthly summaries that petitioner kept for the years at issue fail to establish each element of his expenditures.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
66 T.C. 879, 1976 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 57, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rutz-v-commissioner-tax-1976.