Russell R. & Virginia R. Mearkle v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue

ALAN E. NORRIS, Circuit Judge.

Russell R. and Virginia R. Mearkle (“taxpayers”) appeal from an order of the United States Tax Court, 87 T.C. 527, denying their motion for an award of litigation costs against the Commissioner of Internal Revenue. The costs arose in connection with their successful petition for a redeter-mination of a claimed $149 deficiency in the amount of federal income taxes they paid for 1981.

The taxpayers operated an Amway business from two rooms in their residence and, on their 1981 income tax return, claimed a home office deduction for that use. The Commissioner…