What is the Internal Revenue Service's "Dinah Shore Ruling"?

This is the term/ruling the U.S. Internal Revenue Service uses to allow a dress to be deducted as a professional expense if it is too tight to sit down in. The ruling was issued after singer, Dinah Shore, deducted gowns worn in public appearances as business expenses and insisted, when challenged by the IRS, that they were only worn onstage while performing.

A dress can be deducted as a professional expense if it is too tight to sit down in. The ruling was issued after singer Shore deducted gowns worn in public appearances as business expenses and insisted, when challenged by the IRS, that they were only worn onstage while performing.

Dinah Shore classified several gowns as a business expense. The IRS challenged the expenses, to which Shore responded that the gowns were too tight to sit down in...thus, they could only be worn on stage. In what has become known as the Dinah Shore Ruling, the IRS allowed her to deduct any dress that was too tight to sit down in.