Ordinary and Necessary
i.    162(a): an expense must be ordinary and necessary in the taxpayer’s particular trade or business.
1.    Ordinary:  has the connotation of normal, usual or customary.  To be sure, an expense may be ordinary thought it happens but once in a lifetime
a.    Would Warren Buffet spend the money for a good faith business reason to make a buck?
2.    Necessary: merely requires that the expense be appropriate and helpful in the taxpayer’s business.  (Commissioner v. Tellier (1966))
a.    Would Warren Buffet spend the money for a good faith business reason to make a buck?
b.    Note: “necessary” is very broad.  The Tellier court wasn’t kidding when it said “appropriate and helpful.”  Suppose an IBM employee has a hangnail.  He didn’t get it from his job.  Nonetheless, it is “appropriate and helpful” to IBM’s business for a company doctor to fix the hangnail.  Otherwise, the guy’s productivity will decrease.
3.    courts usually look harder at the ordinary standard than they do to the necessary standard