Moss v. Comm'r of Internal Revenue

• Decision Date: 25 May 1983
• Docket Number: Docket No. 9975-80.
• Citation: 80 T.C. 1073
• Parties: JOHN D. MOSS, JR., and DIANE C. MOSS, PETITIONERS v. COMMISSIONER of INTERNAL REVENUE, RESPONDENT
• Court: U.S. Tax Court

80 T.C. 1073

JOHN D. MOSS, JR., and DIANE C. MOSS, PETITIONERS

v.COMMISSIONER of INTERNAL REVENUE, RESPONDENT

Docket No. 9975-80.

United States Tax Court

Filed May 25, 1983.

Petitioner, a partner of a law firm specializing in litigation, met with his colleagues each day at noon to discuss firm business, e.g., case assignments, scheduling, settlements. The lunches were paid for by the partnership. Respondent disallowed petitioner's distributive share of these expenses. Held, luncheon costs incurred at these meetings are nondeductible personal expenses. Sec. 262, I.R.C. 1954. Eugene L. Mahoney and Arnold A. Silvestri, for the petitioners.

Tom P. Quinn, for the respondent.

WILBUR , Judge:

Respondent determined a deficiency in petitioner's Federal income tax for the taxable year 1976 of $1,125 and for 1977 of $1,351. After concessions by the respondent, the sole issue for our decision is whether petitioner is entitled to deduct his share of the partnership's expenses representing daily business luncheon meetings.

FINDINGS OF FACT

Some of the facts have been stipulated and those facts are so found. The stipulation of facts and the attached exhibits are incorporated by this reference.

The petitioners are husband and wife who resided in Chicago, Ill., when they timely filed the 1976 and 1977 Federal income tax returns in question. Petitioner Diane C. Moss is a party to this proceeding solely because she filed a joint return with her husband, petitioner John Moss.

Petitioner, an attorney, was a partner in the law firm Parrillo, Bresler, Weiss & Moss in 1976 and 1977. The firm filed a partnership return for each of the years in question. It took a deduction each year for “meetings and conferences.” Petitioner has claimed his share of the firm's expense on his individual return.

Parrillo, Bresler, Weiss & Moss was a firm of six or seven lawyers who specialized in insurance defense work. Their case load was extremely heavy. Most of the lawyers spent the better part of each day participating in or preparing for depositions and trials throughout the greater Chicago area. Judges often held hearings on short notice, thus making it necessary for the firm to assign cases and plan schedules at the last minute.

Robert Parrillo, the senior partner, was responsible for all cases involving the firm's major client, the Safeway Insurance Co.¹ His partners and associates handled the details of these cases, but no final settlements were made without his approval.

The firm had an unwritten policy of meeting every day during the noon recess at the Cafe Angelo, a small, quiet restaurant conveniently located near the courts and the office. Over lunch, the lawyers would decide who would attend various sessions;² discuss issues and problems that had come up in the morning; answer questions and advise each other on how to handle certain pending matters; update Mr. Parrillo on settlement negotiations; and, naturally, engage in a certain amount of social banter. Attorneys attended whenever possible for as long as possible; sometimes they ate, at other times they merely joined in the discussions.

The law firm paid for the meals eaten during the noontime meetings. In 1976, the total bill was $7,113.85;³ in 1977, they spent $7,967.85. The bill from the Cafe Angelo represents the bulk of the firm's “meeting and conference” expense.⁴

The noon hour was the most convenient and practical time for the firm to have its daily meeting.⁵ The courts were almost always in recess at this time, so most attorneys could attend. The more experienced members of the firm were available to advise and educate the fledgling litigators. Parrillo was there to discuss and approve settlements. The Cafe Angelo provided a good location, efficient service, reasonable prices, and a place where judges could locate the attorneys.

In its statutory notice of deficiency, respondent disallowed petitioner's distributive share of the Cafe Angelo expense, along with other items upon which the parties have reached an agreement.

OPINION

Petitioner is a partner in a Chicago law firm that met every business day in 1976 and 1977 at the Cafe Angelo for lunch. Current litigation problems, scheduling, assignments, and settlement of cases were discussed at that time. The firm paid for the meals of those lawyers who ate during the firm meetings. The issue for decision is whether petitioner may deduct his share of those expenses in calculating his taxable income.

Petitioner contends that the luncheon meeting expenses are deductible under section 162⁶ as ordinary and necessary business expenses. In the alternative, he claims that they qualify for deduction under section 1.162-5, Income Tax Regs., as outlays for education. Respondent, conversely, claims that the lunches are a personal and therefore nondeductible expense. We agree with respondent.⁷

The broad purpose of the Internal Revenue Code is to tax all accessions to wealth, “from whatever source derived.” Sec. 61(a). The goal being to tax income, business expenses reduce taxable income. Sec. 162. Funds spent on personal consumption, on the other hand, are not deductible. Sec. 262. The boundary line dividing personal expenses from business expenses, often obscurely marked, has been a fertile field of battle. The taxpayer bears the burden in these skirmishes. Welch v. Helvering, 290 U.S. 111 (1933); Rule 142(a), Tax Court Rules of Practice and Procedure. In close contests, it is essential to bear in mind that the provisions of section 262 take priority over section 162. Sharon v. Commissioner, 66 T.C. 515, 522-523 (1976), affd. per curiam 591 F.2d 1273 (9th Cir. 1978).

The expense in question is close to that evanescent line dividing personal and business expenses. From the perspective of the partnership, the lunches were a cost incurred in earning their income. The lawyers needed to coordinate assignments and scheduling of their case load, and the noon hour was a logical, convenient time at which to do so. They considered the meeting to be part of their working day, not as an hour of reprieve from business affairs. The individuals did not feel free to make alternate plans, or to eat elsewhere. For this firm, petitioner argues, the meeting was both ordinary and necessary.

The Commissioner focuses not on the circumstances bringing the partnership together each day, but rather on the fact that the individuals were eating lunch while they were together. Rather than to section 162, he looks to section 262, and the regulations which specifically categorize meals as personal expenses.⁸ Sec. 1.262-5, Income Tax Regs. The respondent, in essence, argues that while the meeting may have been ordinary and necessary to the business, the outlay was for meals, a personal item.

The dual nature of the business lunch has long been a difficult problem for legislators and courts alike. The traditional view of the courts has been that if a personal living expense is to qualify under section 162, the taxpayer must demonstrate that it was “different from or in excess of that which would have been made for the taxpayer's personal purposes.” Sutter v. Commissioner, 21 T.C. 170, 173 (1953).⁹

Following the Sutter formula, numerous taxpayers have attempted to deduct the cost of meals eaten under unusual or constraining circumstances. The claims have been denied almost invariably. See, e.g., Fife v. Commissioner, 73 T.C. 621 (1980) (attorney may not deduct cost of meals eaten in restaurants due to late client meetings); Ma-Tran Corp. v. Commissioner, 70 T.C. 158 (1978) (corporation may not deduct cost of officer's locally consumed meals absent travel or compliance with section 274); Drill v. Commissioner, 8 T.C. 902 (1947) (construction worker cannot deduct cost of dinners on nights he worked overtime).¹⁰ Daily meals are an inherently personal expense, and a taxpayer bears a heavy burden in proving they are routinely deductible.

Petitioner relies on Wells v. Commissioner, 626 F.2d 868 (9th Cir. 1980), affg. without published opinion T.C. Memo. 1977-419, in support of his position.¹¹ In Wells, we denied a deduction claimed by a public defender for the cost of occasional lunch meetings with his staff. The Court noted, however, that in a law firm, “an occasional luncheon meeting with the staff to discuss the operation of the firm would be regarded as an ‘ordinary and necessary expense.’ ” We note, first, that this statement is dictum in a memorandum opinion, and thus not controlling. Second, that case referred to occasional lunches, a far cry from the daily sustenance involved in the case at bar. Even assuming that Wells is of any assistance to petitioner, we need not decide where the line between these two cases should be drawn, for we are convinced that outlays for meals consumed 5 days per week, 52 weeks per year would in any event fall on the nondeductible side of it.

The only recent cases where deductions were allowed for meals taken on a regular basis were Sibla v. Commissioner, 611 F.2d 1260 (9th Cir. 1980), affg. 68 T.C. 422 (1977), and Cooper v. Commissioner, 67 T.C. 870 (1977). Those cases involved Los Angeles firemen who were required to contribute to a meal fund for each day they were on duty, regardless of whether they ate or even were present at the fire station. This Court allowed them to deduct the expense under section 162; a concurring opinion would have allowed the expense by analogy to section 119. Cooper v. Commissioner, supra at 874-876. On appeal, the Ninth Circuit approved of both theories, stating that because the taxpayer's situation was both unusual and unique, the expense was business rather than personal.¹²

The decision by the Ninth Circuit implies that similar considerations are involved in determining whether a meal is a business expense under section 162 and whether the value of a meal supplied by an employer should be included in gross income under section 61. Section 119 provides a limited exception to section 61 by...