The tax court overruled respondent and allowed the deduction Respondent Commissioner of Internal Revenue, in consolidated cases, appealed the judgments from the United States Tax Court, which held that under 26 U.S.C.S.

§ 162(a), petitioner firefighter taxpayers could deduct the amount that their employer charged them for their meals under its mandatory organized mess.

§ 262, but were either deductible business expenses under § 162(a) or were employer-furnished meals that were excludable from income under 26 U.S.C.S.

The court affirmed the judgments allowing petitioner firefighter taxpayers to deduct the amount that they paid for their meals as part of their employer's mandatory organized mess.

The court held that because the payment was involuntary whether or not petitioners ate their meals at the mess, petitioners could deduct the cost as business expenses or exclude it from income as meals furnished by their employer for the employer's convenience.