IRS Calculation of Business Use Upheld.

The petitioner was a surgeon that had a private practice in one location and also was an “on-call” surgeon at a hospital about 25 miles away from his private practice location.  At the hospital he had to work a 24-hour period three days monthly and had to be available during emergencies.  He had various medical conditions and bought a motor home that he could park near the hospital that he could use for rest and sleep during the 24-hour shifts.  He reviewed patient charts in the motor home and referred to his medical books and other information while in the motor home.  He did maintain mileage logs that separated out the business and personal use of the motor home.  On audit, the IRS allocated the allowable depreciation (including expense method) between his business and personal use.  The petitioner claimed that he used the motor home for business purposes 85% of the time during his 24-hour work days.  The court upheld the IRS position, noting that the motor home was used only 27 days for business in 2008 and 36 days in 2009.  The petitioner’s own logs showed that his business use was approximately 20 percent for the two tax years in issue.  Cartwright v. Comr., T.C. Memo. 2016-212.