Wilbert v. Commissioner

David Wilbert (plaintiff) was an airline mechanic employed by Northwest Airlines. After September 11, 2001, Northwest began laying off many employees. Wilbert was laid off but had the right to keep his job by “bumping” a mechanic with less tenure, which meant taking the other mechanic’s job. Wilbert had been working at the Minneapolis airport and lived nearby. After being laid off, Wilbert bumped another mechanic and took a position in Chicago. However, a few days later, Wilbert was then bumped by a more senior mechanic. Wilbert then bumped a mechanic in Anchorage, Alaska. After three weeks, Wilbert was bumped again. Wilbert then worked in New York City, but again, after a week, Wilbert was bumped and had exhausted his bumping rights. Soon after that, Wilbert was hired for an interim position (not longer than nine months) in Anchorage. With all of those moves, Wilbert incurred substantial living expenses (nearly $20,000), which he would not have incurred had Wilbert remained in Minneapolis. Wilbert deducted those living expenses on his 2003 tax return as ordinary and necessary business expenses, being traveling expenses while the taxpayer was away from home, under 26 U.S.C. § 162(a). The Commissioner of Internal Revenue (the commissioner) (defendant) denied the deduction, and Wilbert eventually filed suit in the tax court. The tax court ruled for the commissioner, analyzing whether the work away from home was temporary or indefinite and then not allowing the deduction because Wilbert’s sojourns were indefinite. However, other cases had attempted to apply other standards, including a reasonableness test that attempted to analyze the taxpayer’s behavior to see if the absence from home was reasonable and a business-exigencies rule that considered only whether the business in question was a motivating factor in the travel rather than personal conveniences or necessities. Wilbert also tried to argue that he carried on a real estate business in Minneapolis, but Wilbert earned only $2,000 from this business.