Home Office Deductions: The Development and Current Status of Section 280A(c)(1)
![handle is hein.journals/cumlr13 and id is 203 raw text is: HOME OFFICE DEDUCTIONS:
THE DEVELOPMENT AND CURRENT
STATUS OF SECTION 280A(c)(1)
BURKE T. WARD*
INTRODUCTION
For decades there has been considerable litigation between
taxpayers and the Internal Revenue Service (Service) regarding
the deductibility and allocation of expenses incurred in main-
taining an office in the home. A taxpayer seeking to utilize
these deductions was caught between the restrictive position of
the Service and the more liberal decisions of the Tax Court.1
In response to the taxpayer's confusion concerning what
home office expenses were deductible and in anticipation of
possible abuses, Congress adopted section 280A of the Internal
Revenue Code as part of the Tax Reform Act of 1976.2 This sec-
tion severely restricted the availability of deductions for home
* Assistant Professor, Villanova University, College of Commerce and Finance;
Attorney, Roseberry and Ward, Plymouth Meeting, Pa.; formerly Staff Attorney,
I.R.S. Office of Chief Counsel Philadelphia Region, Newark, N.J. office; A.B., Vilanova
University; J.D., Seton Hall Law School; LL.M., New York University Law School. The
author wishes to express his appreciation to Clark Hammond for his assistance in the
preparation of this Article.
I H.R. REP. No. 94-658,94th Cong., 2d Sees. 157, reprinted in 1976 U.S. CODE CoNG. &
AD. NEWS 2897, 3051.
The House Report states:
With respect to the maintenance of an office in an employee's home, the
position of the Internal Revenue Service is that the office must be required by
the employer as a condition of employment and regularly used for the perfor-
mance of the employee's duties.
Certain courts have decided that a more liberal standard than that urged by
the Internal Revenue Service is appropriate. Under these decisions, the ex-
penses attributable to an office maintained in an employee's residence are
deductible if the maintenance of the office is appropriate and helpful to the
employee's business.
Id.
Through passage of the Tax Reform Act of 1976, Pub. L. 94-455, 90 Stat. 1520,
Congress sought to promulgate definitive rules to resolve the conflict that [existed]
between... recent court decisions and the position of the Internal Revenue Service as
to the correct standard governing the deductibility of expenses attributable to the
maintenance of an office in the taxpayer's personal residence. H.R. REP. No. 94-658,
94th Cong., 2d Sess. 160, reprinted in 1976 U.S. CoDE CONG. & AD. NEWS 2897, 3053.
' Tax Reform Act of 1976, Pub. L. No. 94-455, § 601, 90 Stat. 1520.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/cumlr13&div=15&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Home Office Deductions: The Development and Current Status of Section 280A(c)(1)
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