Home Office Deduction Disallowed.

The petitioner, a real estate agent, claimed a home office deduction for a dwelling unit that she claimed to use for business purposes.  The petitioner supported her claim with "aerial view" photos from Google coupled with handwritten notes.  The petitioner provided no other documents, canceled checks or receipts to bolster the claimed rental arrangement she had with her sister concerning the dwelling unit.  The court agreed with the IRS and denied any deduction for a home office because the petitioner couldn't show that any part of the dwelling unit was used regularly and exclusively for business purposes.  The court also disallowed expense deductions for telephone and internet, again for lack of substantiation.  The court also upheld the IRS assessment for failure to file based on receipt of a Form 1099 showing over $17,000 of income before the expenses at issue were claimed.  Grossnickle v. Comr., T.C. Memo. 2015-127.