A self-employed man can deduct mortgage interest paid on unused realty, the Tax Court decides. He bought land with the intent of building an office on it. He borrowed money to finance the purchase and paid interest on the loan. But before construction began, his business started to have financial problems, and he had to abandon the development plans. He wrote off the interest on Schedule C. After IRS axed the deduction as investment or personal interest, the Court allowed it, saying it was properly allocable to his trade or business (Pugh, TC Summ. Op. 2019-2).