On September 29, 2020, the Tax Court issued a Memorandum Opinion in the case of Lucero v. Commissioner (T.C. Memo. 2020-136). The issue before the court in Lucero v. Commissioner was whether the petitioners’ real estate loss deductions were disallowed by IRC § 469 and/or IRC § 280A. Background to Lucero v. Commissioner The petitioner-husband owned a short-term rental property in The Sea Ranch, California. To be clear, the property was not in Sea Ranch, mind you, but The Sea Ranch…lest there be any confusion with the rabble and riff-raff in Sea Ranch, California.  He rented the property to tenants for 146 nonconsecutive days in 2014 and 152 nonconsecutive days in 2015.  The petitioners paid a property management company to manage the property’s day-to-day rental operations, which included advertising to prospective tenants, collecting deposit fees and rent, maintaining and cleaning the property between stays, landscaping, assisting the petitioners in hiring…