Voigt v. Comm'r of Internal Revenue, Docket No. 11950-78.

• Decision Date: 21 April 1980
• Docket Number: Docket No. 11950-78.
• Citation: 74 T.C. 82
• Parties: HARRY H. VOIGT and MARILYN P. VOIGT, PETITIONERS v. COMMISSIONER of INTERNAL REVENUE, RESPONDENT
• Court: U.S. Tax Court

74 T.C. 82

HARRY H. VOIGT and MARILYN P. VOIGT, PETITIONERS
v.
COMMISSIONER of INTERNAL REVENUE, RESPONDENT

Docket No. 11950-78.

United States Tax Court

Filed April 21, 1980.

Held, psychoanalysis costs are deductible educational expenses for petitioner wife, a clinical social worker, because the analysis improved the diagnostic and treatment skills required in her employment as a psychotherapist and was undertaken neither to meet the minimum requirements of a clinical social worker nor to qualify her for a new trade or business.

[74 T.C. 82]

Harry H. Voigt, pro se.

Carolyn M. Parr, for the respondent.

TIETJENS, Judge:

Respondent determined a deficiency of $3,131.93 in petitioners' Federal income tax for 1975. The issues for our determination are (1) whether petitioner Marilyn P. Voigt's expenses for psychoanalysis are deductible under section 162 ¹ as ordinary and necessary business expenses; and (2) whether, alternatively, her costs for psychoanalysis are deductible under section 213 as medical deductions.

[74 T.C. 83]

FINDINGS OF FACT

Some of the facts have been stipulated and are so found. The stipulation and attached exhibits are incorporated herein by reference.²

At the time they filed their petition, petitioners resided at Chevy Chase, Md. They timely filed their joint Federal income tax return with the Director of the Baltimore District, Internal Revenue Service.

During 1975, petitioner Marilyn P. Voigt (hereinafter Marilyn) paid $5,945, for a personal psychoanalysis, to Dr. Joseph D. Lichtenberg (hereinafter Lichtenberg), a certified psychoanalyst. During that same year, Marilyn was self-employed as a clinical social worker; she was engaged as a cotherapist both with Dr. William Strathmann (hereinafter Strathmann), a psychiatrist, and, beginning October 1975, with Dr. James L. Evans (hereinafter Evans), another psychiatrist.

A profile of Marilyn's paid employment experience indicates that from September 1956 until March 1957, Marilyn was employed by a New York State agency as a social worker; from May 1957 until May 1958, she worked for a Nebraska State agency in the same capacity. She resumed her career full time for a New York State agency from November 1969 until January 1970. From March 1973 until January 1979, she worked as a cotherapist with Strathmann, and from October 1975 until the present, with Evans. She is also now involved in a part-time private practice of psychotherapy and holds some teaching and supervisory positions in this field.

Marilyn's earnings from 1973 through 1979 were as follows:

+---------------+
                ¦1973¦$943.00 ¦
                +----+----------¦
                ¦1974¦1,235.00 ¦
                +----+----------¦
                ¦1975¦1,770.00 ¦
                +----+----------¦
                ¦1976¦5,967.76 ¦
                +----+----------¦
                ¦1977¦8,088.00 ¦
                +----+----------¦
                ¦1978¦13,984.10 ¦
                +----+----------¦
                ¦1979¦1 ¦
                +---------------+
                

[74 T.C. 84]

The minimum requirement to be a clinical social worker is a master of social work (M.S.W.) degree from an accredited school of social work. The National Association of Social Workers (NASW), the largest organization of professional social workers, opens its membership to all social workers with B.S.W., M.S.W., or doctoral degrees. The Academy of Certified Social Workers (ACSW), a unit of NASW, certifies NASW members for independent, self-regulated practice. In order to qualify for ACSW certification, a social worker must have (1) an M.S.W. or doctoral degree; (2) 2 years' paid full-time or 3,000 hours' paid part-time postmaster's or postdoctoral experience in social work practice; (3) regular membership in NASW; (4) recommendations from three professionals, one of which must be from the applicant's immediate supervisor; and (5) successful completion of the national ACSW examination.³

Marilyn completed her M.S.W. at Smith College in 1956. She received her New York State certified social worker license in October 1968, her ACSW certification in January 1974, and her Maryland certified social worker license in September 1977.

Psychiatrists, psychoanalysts, and clinical social workers are all qualified to practice psychotherapy. Psychiatrists and psychoanalysts, however, are physicians and are thereby qualified to prescribe medication. Psychoanalysts alone may...