Henrietta, the owner of a very successful hotel chain in the Southeast, is exploring the possibility of expanding the chain into a city in the Northeast. She incurs $35,000 of expenses associated with this investigation. Based on the regulatory environment for hotels in the city, she decides not to expand. During the year, she also investigates opening a restaurant that will be part of a national restaurant chain. Her expenses for this are $53,000. She proceeds with opening the restaurant, and it begins operations on September 1. Determine the amount that Henrietta can deduct in the current year for investigating these two businesses. In your computations, round the per-month to two decimal places and use rounded amount in subsequent computations. If required, round your final answers to the nearest dollar.

Benton company (bc), a calendar year entity, has one owner, who is in the 37% federal income tax bracket (any net capital gains or dividends would be taxed at a 20% rate). bc's gross income is $395,000, and its ordinary trade or business deductions are $245,000. ignore the standard deduction (or itemized deductions) and the deduction for qualified business income. if required, round computations to the nearest dollar. a. bc is operated as a proprietorship, and the owner withdraws $100,000 for personal use. bc's taxable income for the current year is $ , and the tax liability associated with the income from the sole proprietorship is $ . b. bc is operated as a c corporation, pays out $100,000 as salary, and pays no dividends to its shareholder. bc's taxable income for the current year is $ , and bc's tax liability is $ . the shareholder's tax liability is $ . c. bc is operated as a c corporation and pays out no salary or dividends to its shareholder. bc's taxable income for the current year is $ , and bc's tax liability is $ . d. bc is operated as a c corporation, pays out $100,000 as salary, and pays out the remainder of its earnings as dividends. bc's taxable income for the current year is $ , and bc's tax liability is $ .