Charley Long is a truck driver, the 18-wheeler variety. He is an independent contractor for Fishy Co., a seafood company in Mobile, Alabama. Charleys job entails delivering fresh fish to restaurants and wholesale fish distributors in Mississippi and Louisiana. Charleys routine varied. Sometimes, he drives straight back to Mobile from Lafayette. On other occasions, he will pull off at a truck stop and sleep in his cab before returning to Mobile. His cab is equipped with sleeping facilities, although small and sparse. Finally, on other occasions, Charley will spend the night in a motel along the road. When Charley drives straight back to Mobile, Charley will eat one meal. When he sleeps overnight (either in his cab or in a motel), he will eat two meals, a late dinner, and breakfast. During the current year, Charley incurred the following expenses:

Meals incurred on nonstop trips $1,000

Meals incurred when: slept in cab $800

Slept in motel $600

Lodging $2,800

Total $5,200

ISSUE:

The IRS has disallowed all of the above expenses on the grounds that they are not bona fide travel expenses but personal expenses and stated Charlie owes taxes on the entire $5,200. Assume Charlie appropriately prepared a Form Schedule C with his personal tax return and included these expenses as part of his business. Prepare a response to the IRS indicating the amount of expenses deductible. In your letter indicate the amount of taxes owed, assume Charlie is in the highest tax bracket. The letter should be at least 400 words in length.

One is encouraged to use tax resources to help you determine which items are deductible. You are welcome to use these as support in your letter, as appropriate.

A partial list of sources is:

1. Sec. 162(a)(2) and Reg. Sec. 1.162-2(a)
2. U.S. v. Correll, 389 U.S. 299 (1967)
3. Williams v. Patterson, 286 F.2d 333 (5^th Cir. 1961)
4. Rev. Rul 75-168, 1975-1 C.B. 58 and Rev. Rul. 75-432, 1975-2 C.B. 60