Monroe J. Paxman and Shirley B. Paxman v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue

LEWIS, Circuit Judge.

This petition questions the correctness of a decision of the United States Tax Court sustaining a disallowance by the Commissioner of a deduction claimed by the taxpayers, husband and wife, on their joint personal income tax return for the year 1963. The facts as presented to this court are not in controversy and present a somewhat novel and, indeed, refreshing background for judicial consideration. The legal issue springs from the receipt by taxpayers in 1963 of $10,000 in cash and $867 in merchandise as the result of placing first in a national contest sponsored by…