Proponents of dubious expense deductions cling to the man who gave his regards to Broadway. They seek thereby to turn the merest crowd-scene walk-on into a star turn. This gimmick was part-way closed by Section 274 and the “temporary” regs, soon to become Medicare-eligible. And while not outright repudiated, 5 Cir and 7 Cir, among others, have themselves clung to Judge Learned Hand’s famous qualification: Georgie didn’t keep records, and “probably could not have done so,” 39 F.2d at p. 543. Se my blogpost “A Rarity,” 5/19/20*, for more.
But in these cyberomniscient times, when everyone has “all ye know, and all ye need to know” in his/her back pocket, the all-seeing, all-knowing application (“app”) puts in the hands of even the most technophobic the means to chronicle, characterize, and spread forth every expenditure, so that “the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me.”
And that is the undoing of Gary Thomas, Docket No. 10795-22, filed 10/23/24. Gary carts around golf carts for a national trucking firm. Though an EE and not an IC, Gary incurs expenses, like tolls, scale fees, layovers, delays, and overnight lodging, in addition to those more particularly bounded and described in Dave Dudley’s 1980 classic exposition of “this truckin’ life I lead.”
Gary wants to take these as unreimbursed business expenses. But Judge Ronald L. (“Ingenuity”) Buch stomps on the brakes. Turns out the national trucker kept track of what Gary was up to, and laid out what reimbursements he received. So when Gary sent in the two (count ’em, two) years of missing 1040s claiming same, he’s trapped by the app.
“Mr. Thomas manually maintained a log of his expenses. He maintained this log because the information was reported to him using a mobile application and not in hard copy. His manual log bears a striking similarity to what [employer] ultimately reported in its payroll system.” Transcript, at p. 4.
Gary didn’t provide any evidence of employer’s reimbursement policy. Nor did he show he had expenses beyond those in his handwritten copy of what employer’s app sent him, which employer’s payroll records confirm. Deductions disallowed.
Taishoff says, is the smartphone the end of Cohan?
Taishoff Law 