1988 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 125">*125
91 T.C. 713">*714 Respondent determined deficiencies in and additions to petitioners' 1980 and 1981 Federal income taxes as follows:
1 Additions to tax | |||||
Year | Deficiency | Sec. 6651(a)(1) | Sec. 6653(a) | Sec. 6653(a)(1) | Sec. 6653(a)(2) |
1980 | $ 63,027.02 | $ 4,848.79 | $ 5,241.60 | ||
1981 | 4,433.00 | $ 248.10 | (1) |
1988 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 125">*126 Respondent also determined that petitioners are liable for the increased rate of interest pursuant to section 6621(c). 2
After settlement by the parties of several issues, the following remain for our decision: (1) Whether a loss on the sale of stock options should be disallowed pursuant to the wash-sale provisions of
FINDINGS OF FACT
Some of the facts1988 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 125">*127 have been stipulated and are so found. The stipulation and attached exhibits are incorporated herein by this reference. Petitioners resided in Bloomington, Minnesota, when they filed their petition.
During 1980 and 1981, petitioner David E. Gantner (petitioner) was president and a shareholder of the North Star Driving School, Inc. (North Star). North Star was in the business of selling driving lessons, and it provided students with classroom instruction and behind-the-wheel training. During the years in issue, petitioner also was president of the Driving School Association of the Americas (DSAA), a trade association consisting of approximately 225 dues-paying members, but in effect representing approximately 3,300 driving schools in the United States and 91 T.C. 713">*715 Canada. Petitioner's activities in DSAA required only a "token amount" of his time, including attendance at two or three meetings per year of the board of directors. Petitioner also served as a delegate to international driving instruction conventions held in Germany and Austria in 1980 and 1981, respectively.
Petitioner and Lee Whited each owned 50 percent of the stock of North Star, and each received compensation1988 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 125">*128 from North Star in the amounts of $ 37,874 and $ 38,369 in 1980 and 1981, respectively. Petitioner generally was responsible for the business aspects of North Star such as payroll, other disbursements, and marketing, and Mr. Whited generally was responsible for the operational aspects such as hiring, training, and supervising the driving instructors. The majority of North Star's students were of high school age, so the principal activities of the driving school took place from about 3 p.m. until the early evening hours. Petitioner usually performed his duties for North Star during the afternoon and early evening hours, as well as on weekends. Also, driving instructors sometimes would stop by petitioner's home at night to drop off receipts collected from the students and to pick up contracts that petitioner had brought to them from the North Star office.
In addition to his duties with North Star and DSAA, petitioner also devoted a substantial part of the morning and early afternoon hours on weekdays to monitoring the stock market. Those times comported with the hours during which the New York Stock Exchange and the American Stock Exchange were open -- 9 a.m. until 3 p.m., Minnesota1988 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 125">*129 time. During 1980, petitioner's stock market transactions consisted of purchases and sales of only call options for stock; he neither acquired nor sold actual shares of stock.
Petitioner was not a licensed broker, so he purchased the stock options through the Minneapolis office of the brokerage firm Shearson Loeb Rhoades, Inc. (Shearson). His account statements from Shearson reflect the following activity in 1980:
Sales | Purchases | |
January | 3 | 3 |
March | 4 | 2 |
April | 0 | 1 |
May | 1 | 3 |
June | 4 | 4 |
July | 7 | 5 |
August | 10 | 5 |
September | 6 | 8 |
October | 6 | 6 |
November | 5 | 3 |
December | 3 | 2 |
Year total | 49 |
91 T.C. 713">*716 Petitioner bought 1,330 options in his 42 purchase transactions and sold 1,255 options in his 49 sales transactions. 3 In 1980, petitioner's net sales proceeds from stock options (after commissions) amounted to $ 1,043,978.76, and his total purchases (including commissions) amounted to $ 871,408.49.
1988 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 125">*130 Due to the high volume of his trading activity, petitioner received a 30-percent discount on commission fees from Shearson. In fact, one of the two Shearson brokers used by petitioner in 1980 described petitioner as "the most active customer I've ever had." Petitioner did not rely on brokers for recommendations to buy or sell options; he depended on the brokers only for execution of the trades and for information, e.g., the most current market prices.
The majority of petitioner's 1980 purchases and sales of call options were for stock in Tandy Corp. (Tandy). Included among petitioner's purchases were the following calls for Tandy at $ 100 per share, expiring in January 1981 (JAN 100s): 4
Date purchased | Number | Cost |
11/20/80 | 15 | $ 15,979.35 |
11/20/80 | 35 | 38,160.29 |
12/02/80 | 50 | 36,260.06 |
On December 3, 1980, petitioner bought 100 JAN 100s at a cost of $ 61,063 and sold 100 JAN 100s for $ 51,490. On his 1980 tax return, petitioner reported a loss of $ 38,909.70 from the sale of the Tandy options. The loss was computed using a cost basis of $ 90,399.70 (total cost of the purchases on November 20 and December 2) and a sales price of $ 51,490.
1988 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 125">*131 In the notice of deficiency, respondent disallowed that loss for 1980 based upon the wash-sale provisions. Respondent added the amount of the disallowed loss to the basis of the options purchased on December 3, 1980, and allowed 91 T.C. 713">*717 petitioner an increased 1981 loss upon the disposition and expiration of the Tandy options in January 1981.
In addition to his stock option trades, petitioner purchased and sold commodities futures through a "managed account" administered by Shearson's Chicago office. The managed account gave the broker in Chicago discretionary authority to make trades for the account without any participation by petitioner in the decisions. Petitioner's use of such a discretionary account for his commodity transactions was in direct contrast to his stock option account in which he alone made the decisions to buy or sell.
Among petitioner's commodity transactions in 1980 were straddles using gold contracts. Prior to trial, the parties entered into a closing agreement for the disallowance of short-term capital losses claimed on petitioners' 1980 tax return for "gold commodity futures tax straddles transactions" in the amount of $ 253,350. In September 1983, petitioners1988 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 125">*132 prepared an amended 1980 tax return reflecting the disallowance of those commodities transactions. The tax liability, as reflected on that amended return, was $ 40,329. As of the date of trial, petitioners had made the following payments to apply against their 1980 Federal tax liability:
1980 withholding, net of amounts refunded | $ 1,319 |
11/6/84 | 500 |
12/31/84 | 20,000 |
10/17/85 | 43,929 |
10/21/85 | 8,199 |
73,947 |
In 1979, 1980, and 1981, petitioner purchased various items of computer equipment and computer software. The computers were used by North Star for payroll, form letters and mailing lists, scheduling students and instructors, and other business purposes. Petitioner, rather than North Star, paid for the computer items because North Star was short of cash at the time. The computers also were used by petitioner to maintain information relating both to DSAA and to petitioner's stock options and commodity futures.
All but one of the computers were located in the North Star offices. One computer was kept in a room in petitioner's home and could interface with the computers at the North Star offices via a telephone modem located in the 91 T.C. 713">*718 home. The majority of petitioner's1988 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 125">*133 use of the computers took place while he was in the North Star office; however, he sometimes used the computers while at his home. During 1979 through 1981, North Star had no rental agreement with petitioner, and North Star made no payments to petitioner for its use of the computer items. There was no written agreement between petitioner and Mr. Whited with respect to the computer items.
On their amended 1980 tax return, petitioners claimed deductions and investment credits relating to the computer items as follows:
Depreciation | $ 9,715.41 |
Expenses for repairs and supplies | 1,876.41 |
Investment credit for items purchased in 1979 | |
and 1980 | 1,755.00 |
On their 1981 tax return, petitioners claimed deductions and investment credits for computer items as follows:
Depreciation | $ 6,980.49 |
Expenses for supplies and repairs | 843.36 |
Investment credit | 225.61 |
On their 1980 and 1981 tax returns, petitioners claimed additional deductions and credits as follows:
1981 | 1980 | |
Expenses of office in the home | $ 285.81 | $ 285.81 |
Depreciation on a Honeywell security system | ||
in the home | 147.04 | |
Investment credit on the Honeywell security | ||
system | 183.87 | |
Unreimbursed expenses as DSAA president | 2,154.71 | 1,111.83 |
1988 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 125">*134 In the notice of deficiency, respondent disallowed all of petitioners' claimed deductions and credits relating to the computer items, the home office, the Honeywell system, and the DSAA expenses. Petitioners have conceded the nondeductibility of the DSAA expenses claimed for 1980, but they still contest the disallowance of the other items.
OPINION
The first issue is whether the loss from petitioner's November and December trades of the Tandy calls should be disallowed for 1980 as a wash-sale pursuant to
1988 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 125">*135 (a) Disallowance of Loss Deduction. -- In the case of any loss claimed to have been sustained from any sale or other disposition of shares of stock or securities where it appears that, within a period beginning 30 days before the date of such sale or disposition and ending 30 days after such date, the taxpayer has acquired (by purchase or by an exchange on which the entire amount of gain or loss was recognized by law), or has entered into a contract or option so to acquire, substantially identical stock or securities, then no deduction for the loss shall be allowed under section 165(c)(2); nor shall such deduction be allowed a corporation under section 165(a) unless it is a dealer in stocks or securities, and the loss is sustained in a transaction made in the ordinary course of its business.
We have no doubt that petitioner's Tandy call transactions in November and December fall within the ambit of
Petitioners assert, however, that the Tandy options are not "shares of stock or securities" as those terms are used in
91 T.C. 713">*720 Respondent counters that (1) the options are securities subject to loss disallowance under
Neither Code
By its terms,
Even though we have interpreted
DEDUCTIONS ALLOWED INDIVIDUALS
SEC. 214. (a) That in computing net income there shall be allowed as deductions:
* * * *
(5) Losses sustained during the taxable year and not compensated for by insurance or otherwise, if incurred in any transaction entered into for profit, though not connected with the trade or business * * *. No deduction shall be allowed under this paragraph for any loss claimed to have been sustained in any sale or other disposition of shares of stock or securities where it appears that within thirty days before or after the date of such sale or other disposition the taxpayer has acquired (otherwise than by bequest or inheritance)
Except for the emphasized clause (which first appeared in the 1924 Act), section 214(a)(5) of the 1924 Act is identical to the first statutory wash-sale provision enacted by Congress -- section 214(a)(5) of the Revenue Act of 1921, ch. 136, 42 Stat. 227, 240. 7 Legislative history to the 1924 Act does not address the addition into law of the emphasized clause, which was the first, and to date remains the only, reference to options in the wash-sale provisions. See H. Rept. 179, 68th Cong., 1st Sess. (1924), 1939-1 C.B. (Part 2) 168, 256; S. Rept. 398, 68th Cong. 1st Sess. (1924), 1939-1 C.B. (Part 2) 266, 282; Conf. Rept. 844, 68th Cong., 1st Sess. (1924), 1939-1 C.B. (Part 2) 300, 305-306. Furthermore, we are not aware of any subsequent legislative history that refers to options in the context of wash sales.
1988 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 125">*143 The Conference report for the 1921 Act, Conf. Rept. 486, 67th Cong., 1st Sess. (1921), 1939-1 C.B. (Part 2) 206, 214, 91 T.C. 713">*723 provides the most expansive explanation available of Congress' intent in enacting the wash-sale provisions:
The House bill provided that the taxpayer shall not be allowed any loss sustained
At first blush, that Conference explanation leads us to recall the comments of Judge Learned Hand:
The words * * * merely dance before my eyes in a meaningless procession * * * [and] leave in my mind only a confused sense of some vitally important, but successfully concealed, purport * * *. [One] cannot help wondering whether to the reader [those passages] have any significance save that the words are strung together with syntactical correctness.
See Hand, "Thomas Walter Swan,"
91 T.C. 713">*724 Congress' failure to contemplate the application of the statutory wash-sale provision to sales of options likely is attributable to the lack of any significant market for resale of options in the 1920s, because it was not until 1973, when the Chicago Board Options Exchange began to trade in call options, that fungible stock options effectively were able to be bought and resold on public markets in the United States. See L. Loss, Fundamentals of Securities Regulation 252 (1983); H. Johnson, "Is It Better To Go Naked on the Street? A Primer on the Options Market,"
Moreover, Congress apparently has been aware of the growth of the options markets, as evidenced by its 1982 amendment of the 1933 and 1934 Securities Acts so as to include put and call options specifically within the definition of a "security" for purposes of those two acts. See note 6,
We next must decide whether, and to what extent, deductions and investment credits are allowed for the computer items. Petitioners have the burden of proof. Rule 142(a). It is evident that the majority of the use of the computers was dedicated to North Star. Furthermore, during the years at issue, there is no question but that North Star was a corporation engaged in substantial business activities whose existence cannot be disregarded. See
In order to be deductible, business expenses generally must be the expenses of the taxpayer claiming the deduction.
91 T.C. 713">*726 Petitioners cite
Petitioners cite no other authority to support their deductions of the computer items used1988 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 125">*151 by North Star. Petitioners have not suggested how the computer expenses possibly might be deductible expenses related to petitioner's role as an employee of North Star. Cf.
Petitioner testified that the computers also were used to keep mailing lists for DSAA, as well as to keep track of his options and commodities futures. 1988 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 125">*152 Petitioners have not offered a log or any other evidence to show what percentage of use of the computers was devoted to North Star and what was devoted to his other activities. We, however, believe petitioner's testimony that he used the computers for activities other than North Star. Therefore, bearing heavily upon petitioners, whose inexactitude is of their own making, we find that they are entitled to a deduction and investment credits for 5 percent of the use of the computers. 11
1988 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 125">*153 The parties disagree about the total amount of computer expenses incurred by petitioner during the years at issue. Respondent concedes that petitioner paid for depreciable computer items in the amounts of $ 3,382.95, $ 21,958.95, and $ 2,256.10 in 1979, 1980, and 1981, respectively. On their tax returns, petitioners used a higher cost basis for depreciation of those items; however, since petitioners have offered no evidence to support the higher bases, we deem them to have conceded the amounts in excess of those stipulated by respondent. Petitioners claimed depreciation and investment credit for the items purchased in 1979 as attributable to items first put into service in 1980. Respondent has not questioned the timing of the computer deduction and credit, and we deem him to have conceded that the 1979 and 1980 expenses relate to property placed in service in 1980.
Petitioners have not offered evidence to substantiate any of the expenses for computer supplies and repairs claimed for 1980 and 1981. Respondent, however, has stipulated that petitioner incurred expenses for repairs and supplies in 1981 in the amount of $ 843.36 Petitioners therefore are 91 T.C. 713">*728 entitled to a deduction1988 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 125">*154 for 5 percent of those expenses, but have not shown their entitlement to any such expenses for 1980. Rule 142(a).
Last, respondent asserts that petitioner's computer purchases included software in the amounts of $ 397.95 and $ 2,256.10 for 1980 and 1981, respectively. Petitioners have not disputed those assertions, and we find that purchases in those amounts were for software. Rule 142(a). Investment credit is not allowed on computer software, so those amounts must be excluded from the basis of the section 38 property on which investment credit is available.
In summary, we have found that petitioners are entitled to take deductions and credits for computer items to the extent of 5 percent of the following:
Depreciable basis -- placed in service | 1980 | $ 25,341.90 |
1981 | 2,256.10 | |
Basis of section 38 property | 1980 | 24,943.95 |
Expenses of supplies and repairs | 1981 | 843.36 |
Petitioners also claimed investment credit and depreciation for a security system installed in their home in 1981. Their briefs do not address the use or purpose of the system, and they have forwarded no evidence to substantiate1988 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 125">*155 any deductions or credits for costs of the system. We therefore deem them to have conceded the deductions and credit relating to the security system. Rule 142(a).
Next, petitioners contend that they are entitled to a deduction for use of a room in their home as an office. Petitioners have the burden of proof on this matter. Rule 142(a). Section 280A(a) provides that no deduction shall be allowed with respect to the use of a dwelling unit which is used by a taxpayer as his residence. Section 280A(c)(1) provides exceptions under which a deduction is allowed to the extent a portion of the home is used on a regular basis exclusively as (1) the principal place of business for any trade or business of the taxpayer, 12 or (2) a place of 91 T.C. 713">*729 business which is used by patients, clients, or customers in meeting or dealing with the taxpayer in the normal course of business. In the case of an employee, however, those exceptions apply only if the exclusive use of the portion of the residence is for the convenience of the employer. Sec. 280A(c)(1).
1988 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 125">*156 Petitioners rely on
Petitioners contend that it was necessary for petitioner to have a home office so that he could meet with driving instructors at night, and so that he could perform payroll functions and other duties for North Star. Petitioner maintains that he performed his North Star duties at his home because the North Star office was too noisy and he could not concentrate while there. As asserted in petitioners' brief, "The Petitioner requires solitude when conducting those affairs."
Petitioners' brief states that 1988 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 125">*157 the office in the home was used "exclusively as an office to perform duties required of [petitioner] by North Star." Petitioners' brief 13 does not suggest that the office was used as the principal place of business of petitioner's trading of stock options (assuming arguendo that the options activities were a trade or business), and we take the failure to assert such as a concession that petitioner did not use his home as the focal point of his stock option activities. Indeed, petitioner testified that he would be at the North Star office during most of the time the stock market was open and would keep in contact with the brokers from there. He also testified 91 T.C. 713">*730 that in regard to the charting and recordkeeping of his option and commodity transactions, "I would normally do it at the office after the market closed. * * * I didn't really do much at home. I'd read the paper and try to get some information from there." In short, petitioners have based their entitlement to a home office deduction solely on the activities petitioner performed for North Star at home.
1988 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 125">*158 Petitioners have failed to prove that petitioner's use of an office in his home was "for the convenience of his employer," as required by section 280A(a)(1). North Star provided petitioner with working space at its office. Indeed, petitioner, a 50-percent shareholder and the president of North Star, likely could use as much of the North Star office space as he required; there is no indication that the terms of petitioner's employment with North Star required him to maintain a home office. His meetings with the driving instructors were more for the convenience of those employees than of North Star; the fact that petitioner lived in Bloomington, in the southwest outskirts of the metropolitan area, allowed the instructors in the southwest quadrant to avoid having to drive across town to the North Star offices in St. Paul. Furthermore, there is no indication why petitioner should require an office to meet with the instructors.
We understand why petitioner might prefer the quietude of his home to the bustle of the North Star office; however, we think that his use of a home office to perform his other North Star duties was more for his convenience than for that of North Star. Even 1988 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 125">*159 though the use of petitioner's home office was helpful and possibly appropriate in connection with his employment, Congress specifically intended to negate such a standard of allowability with its enactment of section 280A. H. Rept. 94-658, 1976-3 C.B. (Vol. 2) 695, 853; S. Rept. 94-938, 1976-3 C.B. (Vol. 3) 49, 186-187. 14 In short, we find that petitioners have not shown their entitlement to any home office deductions under section 280A.
Petitioners next contend that they are entitled to a deduction in 1981 for unreimbursed expenses related to 91 T.C. 713">*731 petitioner's duties as president of DSAA. On their 1981 tax return, petitioners claimed total expenses relating to DSAA of $ 3,418.63 and reimbursement of $ 1,263.92, for a net deduction of $ 2,154.71. The parties have stipulated that petitioner has checks written in 1981 in the total amount of $ 1,992.64. 1988 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 125">*160 Petitioners' only contentions on this issue are that those checks adequately substantiate the 1981 deduction and that "the revenue agent's demand for unobtainable invoices was beyond the requirements of section 162 and the items were not related to section 274."
The only explanation in the record as to the composition of the claimed expenses was the following statement on petitioners' 1981 tax return: "Taxpayer is president of a National Business Association and was required to attend International Convention in Vienna in June 1981." Section 274(d) provides that no deduction shall be allowed for any traveling expense unless the taxpayer substantiates by adequate records or other sufficient evidence the amount of the expenditure, the time and place of the activity, and the business purpose. Section 274 obviously applies to at least some of the 1981 expenses. Petitioners have offered no records or other evidence to substantiate the business purpose of the stipulated checks, and they have not suggested which, if any, of the payments were for activities which are not subject to section 274. We therefore find that petitioners fail to meet their burden to prove their entitlement to any1988 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 125">*161 of those claimed expenses. Rule 142(a).
Section 6621(c) provides for increased interest where there is an underpayment of taxes in excess of $ 1,000 attributable to tax-motivated transactions in any year. Section 6621(c) applies only with respect to interest accruing after December 31, 1984, even though the taxpayer entered into the tax-motivated transactions before the date of the enactment of section 6621(c).
Respondent has determined increased interest pursuant to section 6621(c) with respect to the portion of petitioners' 91 T.C. 713">*732 1980 tax liability attributable to the "gold commodity futures tax straddles transactions" which were the subject of the parties' closing agreement. Petitioners apparently do not dispute that the disallowed losses from the "gold commodity futures tax straddles transactions" are attributable to straddles as contemplated in section 6621(c)(3)(A)(iii); thus, the underpayment1988 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 125">*162 attributable to those transactions is attributable to tax-motivated transactions within the meaning of section 6621(c).
Petitioners' opposition to the imposition of the increased interest is based on their contention that they gave respondent's revenue agent an amended 1980 tax return reflecting that closing agreement, but that the revenue agent did not file the return. Petitioners reason as follows:
Had the return been filed and an amount assessed against the Petitioner all payments could have been made before the effective date of the 1984 amendment to section 6621. Equity demands that the IRS agent's failure to file the amended return or process the item as an agreed adjustment, which resulted in the accruing of interest under section 6621, should excuse the Petitioner from paying a higher rate of interest than that normally charged.
Petitioners' arguments do not seem to appreciate the purview of section 6621(c). It does not apply only to interest on
Petitioners made some payments of taxes attributable to their 1980 year before the end of 1984, but they did not make sufficient payments to satisfy the entire liability for the 1980 tax year. In fact, it was not until October 1985 that they made payments sufficient to satisfy the tax 91 T.C. 713">*733 liability, without regard to interest and additions to tax, as reflected on the amended 1980 return. Pursuant to Q and A-11 of section 301.6621-2T, Temporary Proced. & Admin. Regs., respondent applied the payments first to reduce the portion of the underpayment not attributable to the straddles. Petitioners have not challenged the validity1988 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 125">*164 of those temporary regulations, and we take that as a concession of the validity of the regulations as to them. Thus, since petitioners did not pay the total underpayment attributable to the straddles by December 31, 1984, we find that they are liable for increased interest pursuant to section 6621(c) on the portion of the underpayment attributable to the straddles that remained unpaid after that date. 15
To reflect the foregoing,
1. 50 percent of the interest due on $ 4,433↩
2. Subsec. (d) of sec. 6621 was redesignated subsec. (c) and amended by the Tax Reform Act of 1986, Pub. L. 99-514, sec. 1511(c)(1)(A)-(C), 100 Stat. 2744. We use the reference to sec. 6621 as redesignated and amended.↩
3. The parties stipulated that petitioner both bought and sold 1255 options during 1980, but our examination of petitioner's account statements indicates that the stipulation is incorrect in regard to the number of options purchased. See
4. A single call represented an option to purchase 100 Tandy shares for $ 100 per share.↩
5. Cases have held that commodity futures contracts and certificates of membership in the New York Coffee and Sugar Exchange are not securities for purposes of the predecessor provision to
6. This is in contrast to Federal securities law, which defines the term "security" specifically to include any put or call on stock.
7. As enacted in 1921, sec. 214(a)(5) also contained a clause limiting its application to sales and dispositions made after the passage of the 1921 Act, but no such clause was included in the 1924 Act.↩
8. Such a holding comports with "the rule frequently stated by the Supreme Court that 'taxing acts are not to be extended by implication beyond the clear impact of the language used' and that 'doubts are to be resolved against the government and in favor of the taxpayer.'
9. As we noted above, respondent has not suggested that any common law wash-sale doctrine should apply to the instant case, and we take that as a concession by respondent that petitioner's loss is allowable if the provisions of
10. See also
11. For purposes of this deduction and credit, it is immaterial whether petitioner's trading of options rose to the level of a trade or business. If he were in a trade or business, the computer expenses would be deductible under sec. 162. If he were merely an investor, the expenses would be deductible under sec. 212. Investment credit similarly would be allowable in either event. Secs. 48(a)(1), 168(c)(1).↩
12. For certain pre-1980 tax years, this first exception was worded so that a deduction was available for the use of a portion of the home "as the taxpayer's principal place of business." The change in the wording of sec. 280A(c)(1)(A) was made by an Act of December 29, 1981, Pub. L. 97-119, sec. 113, 95 Stat. 1635.↩
13. Petitioners' reply brief was devoted solely to arguments regarding the options/wash-sale issue and did not address any other issues.↩
14. See
15. Our holdings thus render moot petitioners' motion to amend petition (embodying amendment) and motion to submit testimony to confront testimony previously ordered stricken from record but nevertheless cited in respondent's briefs.↩