''Sibla v. Commissioner'', 611

F.2d The ''Federal Reporter'' () is a case law reporter in the United States that is published by West Publishing and a part of the National Reporter System. It begins with cases decided in 1880; pre-1880 cases were later retroactively compiled by We ...

1260 (9th Cir. 1980), was an important

income tax An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...

case regarding 26 U.S.C.S. § 162(a).

Background

Facts

Petitioner firefighter taxpayers were required to participate in a mandatory organized mess at their station house and to pay for the station house meals even when their duties took them away from the station at mess time.

Tax return

Petitioners claimed the cost of the meals as business deductions under 26 U.S.C.S. § 162(a). Respondent

Commissioner of Internal Revenue The Commissioner of Internal Revenue is the head of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), an agency within the United States Department of the Treasury. The office of Commissioner was created by Congress as part of the Revenue Act of 1862. Secti ...

disallowed the deductions.

Tax court

The

tax court Tax courts are courts of limited jurisdiction that deal with tax issues. Notable examples include: *United States Tax Court, a United States federal court **List of Judges of the United States Tax Court ** Uniformity and jurisdiction in U.S. fede ...

overruled respondent and allowed the deduction

Issues

Respondent Commissioner of Internal Revenue, in consolidated cases, appealed the judgments from the United States Tax Court, which held that under 26 U.S.C.S. § 162(a), petitioner firefighter taxpayers could deduct the amount that their employer charged them for their meals under its mandatory organized mess. Respondent claimed that the charge was a nondeductible personal expense under 26 U.S.C.S. § 262.

Opinion of the court

On appeal, the court found that petitioners' participation in the organized mess was not voluntary, that the charge for the meals equaled the value of the meals, that the mandatory mess was for the convenience of the employer as part of its integration program, and that the employer did not reimburse petitioners for meals that they were not able to eat at the station. Thus, the expenses of the mess were not nondeductible living expenses under 26 U.S.C.S. § 262, but were either deductible business expenses under § 162(a) or were employer-furnished meals that were excludable from income under 26 U.S.C.S. § 119. Therefore, the court affirmed the judgments. The court affirmed the judgments allowing petitioner firefighter taxpayers to deduct the amount that they paid for their meals as part of their employer's mandatory organized mess. The court held that because the payment was involuntary whether or not petitioners ate their meals at the mess, petitioners could deduct the cost as business expenses or exclude it from income as meals furnished by their employer for the employer's convenience.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sibla V. Commissioner United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit cases United States taxation and revenue case law 1980 in United States case law