Stanford owns and operates two dry cleaning businesses. He travels to Boston to discuss acquiring a restaurant. Later in the month, he travels to New York to discuss acquiring a bakery. Stanford does not acquire the restaurant but does purchase the bakery on November 1, 2019. Stanford incurred the following expenses: Total investigation costs related to the restaurant = $28,000 Total investigation costs related to the bakery = $51,000 What is the maximum amount Stanford can deduct in 2019 for investigation expenses?

The answer is: $4,522

Explanation:

Since Stanford doesn't operate in the restaurant business and doesn't buy the restaurant, he cannot deduct any amount for investigation costs relating to the restaurant.

Stanford doesn't operate in the bakery business but he bought the bakery, so he can deduct up to $5,000 (before amortization) for investigation costs related to the bakery. But those $5,000 are reduced by every dollar he spent over $50,000, so he can only deduct $4,000 [ = $5,000 - ($51,000 - $50,000) ].

The remaining $47,000 ( = $51,000 - $4,000) can be amortized over 180 months, which equals $261 per month ( = $47,000 / 180 months).

Since he bought the restaurant in November, he can deduct two months: $261 per month x 2 months = $522

So his total deduction for investigation expenses is = $4,000 + $522 = $4,522