Pevsner v. Commissioner
United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
628 F.2d 467 (1980)
Sandra Pevsner (plaintiff), a boutique manager required by her employer to purchase and wear the boutique's expensive designer clothing at work (though permitted to wear it at home too), deducted the wardrobe's cost as a business expense because she considered it too fashionable and expensive for her own modest lifestyle. The tax court sided with Pevsner, applying a subjective standard of whether the clothing suited her personal life; the Commissioner of Internal Revenue (defendant) appealed.
Whether the cost of clothing is deductible as a business expense for federal tax purposes if it is (1) of a type specifically required as a condition of employment, (2) not adaptable to general usage as ordinary clothing, and (3) not worn as ordinary clothing.