Business Travel or Recreation: The RV Case

This descriptive case provided an exercise for students to argue, under the applicable legal framework, whether the taxpayer’s purported business travel expenses using a recreational vehicle should be deductible in whole, in part, or disallowed. The case also required students to put themselves in the place of a judge with the flexibility to reconcile and strike a balance between the competing arguments in coming to an equitable ruling. The case involved the interplay of multiple Internal Revenue Code sections and other tax authorities and required some integrative application of tax law. The case provided a presentation of evidence and competing arguments and an appendix explaining the controlling legal principles of the case issues.