Allen J. McDonell v. Commissioner
United States Tax Court
26 T.C.M.115 (1967)
DECO required home-office salesman McDonell (plaintiff) and his wife to accompany contest-winning distributors on an all-expenses-paid Hawaii trip, explicitly telling him it was a work assignment, not a vacation, requiring him to stay with and monitor the winners continuously with no personal time; McDonell was selected at random among several salesmen, not based on his own performance, and reported only part of the trip's value as income before the Commissioner (defendant) assessed a deficiency for the full amount.
Whether expenses for a trip paid for by an employer are included in gross income if the trip is not provided in light of the employee's past work performance and is taken primarily for business purposes.