Horsing Around Nets Millions of Dollars of Deductible Losses.

The petitioners, a married couple, came into millions of dollars when the husband's family baking company founded by the petitioner's grandfather was sold.  The husband had started working for the business after dropping out of college.  He used the proceeds from the buyout to get involved in raising Arabian horses.  His venture, which is still ongoing, proved overwhelmingly unsuccessful, losing millions of dollars from 2004 through 2007, the years under review.  The IRS denied the losses under the hobby loss rules.  The court weighed the nine factors (not all with the same weight) and ruled for the petitioners.  The court note that the petitioners had made various business moves designed to facilitate the profitability of the horse activity, including borrowing against non-farm investments to channel funds into the horse activity.  The petitioner also sold many investments that resulted in a multi-million dollar capital gain to try to generate funds for the horse activity.  Based primarily on these events, the court determined that the factors weighed in the petitioners' favor and the losses were not limited by the hobby loss rules.  Metz v. Comr., T.C. Memo. 2015-54.