Benjamin A. Stratmore and Helen Stratmore v. United States

While I agree with the majority that the decision of the district court should not be affirmed, I must dissent from the outright holding that the taxpayers are not entitled to a business bad debt deduction under § 166 of the Internal Revenue Code.1 As discussed later, I believe appellees should be afforded an opportunity to be relieved of a stipulation clearly insufficient and improvident.

According to the Treasury Regulations,2 a full deduction based on a *466loss from a bad debt is proper only where the loss is proximately related to a trade or business of the taxpayer. Therefore, where a bad…