Acharya, Sankarshan v. CIR

Order

Sankarshan and Kalpana Acharya reported on their joint 2001 tax return a net loss of some $117,000 attributable to what they described as a business of buying and selling stock. They treated this loss as immediately deductable. After an audit, the IRS determined that Sankarshan’s business is teaching finance at the University of Illinois at Chicago, while Kalpana’s income came from a job as a bakery clerk rather than a stock brokerage. The IRS concluded that the Acharyas suffered short-term capital losses, which may be deducted only up to $3,000 annually. After a trial, the Tax Court…