Arthur T. Hadley and Susan K. Bryant v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, Lloyd McKim Garrison and Sarah Garrison v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue

OAKES, Circuit Judge:

These two cases, decided by the same Tax Court judge, involve the question whether an author during the taxable years after 1975 and before 1987 may deduct as business expenses the expenses incurred in writing a book, or whether the author must capitalize those expenses and depreciate them ratably over the estimated life of the income stream from the book. The Commissioner argues, and the Tax Court found, that section 280(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, 26 U.S.C. § 280(a) (1982), requires capitalization rather than immediate deduction of an author’s expenses.…