Greenberg v. CIR, 6751.

• Decision Date: 25 October 1966
• Docket Number: No. 6751.,6751.
• Citation: 367 F.2d 663
• Parties: Ramon M. GREENBERG et al., Petitioners, v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit

367 F.2d 663 (1966)

Ramon M. GREENBERG et al., Petitioners, v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent.

No. 6751.

United States Court of Appeals First Circuit.

Heard September 12, 1966.

Decided October 25, 1966.

Ramon M. Greenberg, pro se.

Jonathan S. Cohen, Attorney, Department of Justice, with whom Mitchell Rogovin, Asst. Atty. Gen., and Meyer Rothwacks, Attorney, Department of Justice, were on brief, for respondent.

Before ALDRICH, Chief Judge, McENTEE and COFFIN, Circuit Judges.

COFFIN, Circuit Judge.

The sole question in this case is whether the Tax Court erred in denying a deduction claimed by petitioner, a psychiatrist, as an "ordinary and necessary" business expense, for the cost of his own analysis as part of an extensive training program in psychoanalysis.

The availability of the deduction claimed under 26 U.S.C. § 162(a) depends upon the pertinent 1954 Treasury Regulations, which are set forth in the margin.¹ The critical question raised by these regulations is whether petitioner's psychoanalytic studies, including his own analysis, were undertaken to improve his skills as a psychiatrist or were for the purposes of obtaining a new position, obtaining a substantial advancement in position, or fulfilling his general educational aspirations.

The facts found by the Tax Court, apart from stipulated data concerning the profession of psychiatry and the purpose of the Boston Psychoanalytic Institute, covered the psychiatric education and experience of petitioner and his undertaking a six or seven year training program at the Boston Institute. In these respects the facts are very similar to those in Arnold Namrow, 1959, 33 T.C. 419, aff'd, 4 Cir., 1961, 288 F.2d 648, cert. denied, 368 U.S. 914, 82 S.Ct. 192, 7 L.Ed.2d 132, and Grant Gilmore, 1962, 38 T.C. 765.

In this case, as in those, a psychiatrist, having completed medical school, internship, and at least one year of psychiatric residency, qualified for the practice of psychiatry, and, while engaging in such practice, pursued a lengthy institute-sponsored training program in psychoanalysis. Such a program consisted of several years of the taxpayer's own analysis, seminars and courses in psychoanalytical theory, and the supervised handling of several patients over a lengthy period. On the satisfactory completion of such a program, the psychiatrists would be eligible for membership in the particular psychoanalytical institute and recognized as full-fledged psychoanalysts. In all three cases the taxpayer unsuccessfully claimed that the training in psychoanalysis was undertaken primarily to improve his skills as a psychiatrist, the Tax Court holding that the dominant purpose was to prepare for the practice of a separate specialty, psychoanalysis.

Omitted from the findings of fact in this case is the considerable testimony of petitioner, the only witness, relating to his purpose in taking extended training in psychoanalysis. Since the regulations above quoted in footnote 1 make purpose of the taxpayer central in the determination of such questions, since the judge who heard this testimony found it not only "uncontradicted" but "believable",² and since it goes substantially beyond such evidence in Namrow and Gilmore, it is appropriate to summarize it briefly.

Petitioner, even while in medical school, became interested in the application of psychoanalytical thinking to neurophysiological data, writing a paper on the subject. Although he had resolved, during his time in medical school, to become a psychiatrist, he postponed his psychiatric residency one year to allow him to study neurology, which he felt to be important to his future work as a psychiatrist. He then took two succeeding years of psychiatric residency. These two years, together with his year in neurology, met the minimum psychiatric board requirement. He did not seek additional years of psychiatric residency because, he said, he then had in mind obtaining psychoanalytic training as "a continuation of my psychiatric training".

As he began his practice as a psychiatrist with the Boston Veterans Administration Hospital, he also applied for admission to the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, writing in his application, "At this point, my choice of psychiatry as a specialty seems a happy one. * * * I feel that with psychoanalytic training, I may be able to gain more understanding of the function of the mind and also will be able to help emotionally ill patients achieve a better living adjustment."

In defending this purpose as not being unusual, petitioner testified that over 90 per cent of those associated with the Boston Institute spend "more or less of their time" teaching psychiatric residents, teaching psychiatry to medical students, and doing psychiatric research. He referred to articles in professional journals on the place of psychoanalysis in psychiatric training; a foundation grant to train young psychiatrists in psychoanalysis to further their work in psychiatric research; and National Institute of Health career fellowships in psychiatry, which included psychoanalytic training.

Petitioner gave testimony at length on the connection of each part of the psychoanalytic training program to the work of a psychiatrist. Personal analysis helped, he said, to remove one's own "blind spots" and to work more easily with a patient. The study of basic psychoanalytical theory, covered only sparsely in medical school and psychiatric residencies, was "one of the basic sciences in psychiatric thinking" and, more particularly, was useful in his own work in teaching psychiatric residents and as a prerequisite to research. The supervised handling of several cases in depth and at length, petitioner testified, was "one of the main dividends", giving insights into the problems of other patients he would see in the course of his regular work.

As to petitioner's future plans, he testified that he would continue to work part-time at the Boston Veterans Administration Hospital, where he teaches and does research, and to continue to conduct a private practice. He would apply psychoanalytical methods, either "classical" or "modified" as the needs of the patient indicated. As to referrals, he testified, "I think in terms of my being a better psychiatrist, for having this training, that the referrals will come."

Finally, respondent's counsel, at the conclusion of his cross-examination, asked: "Is it your position in this case that you undertook the analytic training and the supervised clinical work and the theoretical instruction to improve your field sic as a psychiatrist?" To which petitioner answered, "That is right."

The opinion of the Tax Court majority cited Namrow and Gilmore where the pursuit of a lengthy program of psychoanalytic training was held to be for the purpose of acquiring a new specialty or a new skill, and not the sharpening of a skill already possessed. It went on to say that these two cases could not be rationally distinguished from that of petitioner. It further pointed out (1) that, while petitioner had stated his reason as that of improving his skills as a psychiatrist, he did not say that this was his "primary" reason;³ (2) that he did not say that he did not intend to practice psychoanalysis upon graduation; (3) that in fact petitioner's testimony indicated his intention to treat some patients with psychoanalysis; and (4) that it is a reasonable inference that when petitioner testified about hoped-for referrals, he meant referrals for psychoanalytic treatment. From these specific observations the Tax Court arrives at its final conclusion, phrased in the negative: "This record would hardly warrant a finding that petitioner did not intend to hold himself out as a practicing psychoanalyst when he completed his six-year course at the Institute."

We reverse. We have set forth the substance of petitioner's testimony and the Tax Court's opinion at some length to illuminate our difficulty. For we do not take issue either with any specific finding of fact or with any inference drawn therefrom except the final conclusion. Our action is based on our conviction that, reviewing the entire evidence, "a mistake has been committed". Commissioner v. Duberstein, 1960, 363 U.S. 278, 291, 80 S.Ct. 1190, 4 L.Ed.2d 1218; United States v. United States Gypsum Co., 1948, 333 U.S. 364, 395, 68 S.Ct. 525, 92 L.Ed. 746.

The error lies in the automatic assumption, which contravenes the overwhelming weight of the evidence in this case, that the acquisition of a "specialty" is inconsistent with the improvement of skills required for the practice of a preexisting profession. To put the difficulty in terms of the facts of this case, the Tax Court majority deemed it sufficient to ask only two questions: is psychoanalysis a specialty? and is it reasonable to infer that the petitioner intended to use the knowledge and methods which he was learning? Affirmative answers to both questions effectively disposed of the case. The question unasked was: did the petitioner have a primary (and reasonable) purpose of using the lore of this new specialty in improving his skills as a practicing and teaching psychiatrist? Since this is the question required by existing regulations, the failure to answer it in the light of the evidence constitutes reversible error.

What is involved in the improvement of skills of a taxpayer in his employment, trade, or business reflects the complexity and variety of our society itself. Perhaps the worker tightening bolts on an assembly line may be said to require only one skill. But most occupations require a bundle of skills. And, to the extent that one is engaged in a learned profession, he must employ a multiplicity of skills. The fact that what is newly acquired by a taxpayer may be recognized as a "skill" or a "specialty" — or, as is usually the case, another group of skills — is irrelevant if the taxpayer's primary purpose is to add to his equipment in carrying on his...