ordinary
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 383 U.S. 687 - Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. F Tellier · 1966Most cited · 889 citing opinions
The principal function of the term 'ordinary' in § 162(a) is to clarify the distinction, often difficult, between those expenses that are currently deductible and those that are in the nature of capital expenditures, which, if deductible at all, must be amortized over the useful life of the asset.
How often courts cite the cases defining “ordinary”
Court decisions citing the 2 opinions that defined “ordinary” — 1,192 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining cases as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.
All 2 definitions, chronological · 1952–1966
- ORIGINAL
The transactions from which they arose were of common or frequent occurrence in the type of business involved. They reflected a nationwide practice. Consequently, they were 'ordinary' in the generally accepted meaning of that word.
ordinary and necessary business expenses