Stanley D. Pomarantz and Linda Burnett Pomarantz v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue Service

We address here the issue whether under 26 U.S.C. § 280A(c)(l)(A) petitioner’s home office qualifies as his principal place of business.

I. BACKGROUND

Petitioner, Stanley D. Pomarantz, is a physician specializing in emergency care medicine. As the sole proprietor and later as an employee of his corporation, Stanley D. Pomarantz, M.D., Inc., P.S., he contracted with Riverton General Hospital for his services. During 1980 and 1981 he worked 33 to 36 hours per week at the hospital. He treated patients for approximately 14-16 hours of a 24-hour shift. During the remaining hours, he completed charts, followed up on patient treatment, and relaxed. Although he had no private office at the hospital, he had access to a work area, call room, and physician’s lounge. The work area contained phones, desk space, and bookshelves with medical journals, textbooks, and handbooks. He relaxed, made calls, read or wrote in the call room which also contained desk space and a phone.

Dr. Pomarantz maintained a home office where he kept a library of medical journals and texts, business records for his professional service corporation and patients’ charts. There he spent 150-250 hours per year reading…