Stephens v. Commissioner
United States Board of Tax Appeals
Attorneys' fees and other expenses incurred by a taxpayer in defending an indictment for conspiracy to defraud the United States may not be deducted as business expenses in the absence of evidence showing the extent to which the alleged illegal acts of the taxpayer were connected with his business.
1Opinion of the Court
*725OPINION.
James:
Both parties rely upon the decision of this Board in the Appeal of Sarah Backer, 1 B. T. A. 214. The Commissioner claims that the Baelcer appeal is authority for the proposition that, regardless of the connection of the expenditures with the business, defense against indictments for illegal acts is a personal matter and expenses connected therewith are personal expenses. The taxpayer points to the language of the opinion dealing with the question of proximate cause, and insists that in cases in which the indictment grows directly out of the business conducted by the taxpayer the…
2Cited by4 opinions
- Continental Screen Co. v. CommissionerUnited States Board of Tax Appeals · 1930
- Great N. Ry. v. CommissionerUnited States Board of Tax Appeals · 1927
- Hervey v. CommissionerUnited States Board of Tax Appeals · 1932
- Stephens v. CommissionerUnited States Board of Tax Appeals · 1925