Paul Preppie is an accountant for the Very Big (VB) Corporation of America, located in Los Angeles. When Paul went to work for VB, he did not have a college degree. VB required that Paul earn a B.S. degree in accounting, so he enrolled in a local private university’s night school and obtained the degree. VB Corporation does not reimburse employees for attending night school, and because Paul attended a private university the tuition and other costs were relatively expensive. Under California law, once Paul has his degree, he is eligible to sit for the CPA exam and can become a CPA in California. Can Paul deduct any of the $10,500 he paid in tuition and other costs during the current tax year?

Prepare (in good form) a research memorandum to the file. (See Chapter 2 for an illustration of the structure of a tax memo.)