Y’all may want this for your curio cabinet; Maribel Gonzalez, T. C. Sum. Op. 2022-13, filed 7/18/22, gets 14K of car, truck and travel expenses through the Section 274 high-test substantiation giant slalom, STJ Peter Panuthos waving her through.

“Petitioner submitted a mileage log detailing the dates traveled, distances traveled, and the purpose of each trip. She also submitted vehicle service receipts corroborating the miles driven. Petitioner testified credibly to the business nature of her trips. As previously indicated, respondent did not disallow claimed deductions for rent or lease of business property as well as advertising and utilities. Given respondent’s allowance of petitioner’s other business expenses, we are satisfied that the reported vehicle expenses satisfy section 162 as ordinary and necessary business expenses. Further, we find that petitioner has met the strict substantiation requirement under section 274(d).” T. C. Sum. Op. 2022-13, at p. 6.

It gets better.

“Petitioner submitted a log estimating her claimed meals and incidental expenses using the federal standard per diem rate for Los Angeles. The record demonstrates that petitioner established the time,  place, and business purpose of her travel. She is not required to strictly substantiate expenses under section 274(d) for expenses computed using the federal standard per diem rate. While self-employed individuals may not use the federal standard per diem rate to substantiate lodging expenses, petitioner testified she did not incur nor include any lodging expenses. See Rev. Proc. 2011-47, § 1.” T. C. Sum. Op. 2022-13, at p. 6. Maribel claims she stayed with friends and family in Los Angeles, not in hotels.

Note that Maribel’s part-hustle was clothing design, but her day job was at Stanford University as a “…a grants manager overseeing contracts for clinical trials. She described her work as involving finance and operations.” T. C. Sum. Op. 2022-13, at p. 2.

She got the Palo Alto job so her daughter could attend high school there.

She does lose $6K of other business expenses for want of substantiation.

But she does get a Taishoff “Good Job, First Class.”