...from the 2021 IRS Tax Guide (pg 78) :DD
Quote
Stolen property. If you steal property, you
must report its fair market value in your income
in the year you steal it unless you return it to its
rightful owner in the same year.
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p17.pdf
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/irs-rule-creating-twitter-buzz-stolen-property-must-be-claimed-as-income-on-taxes
WTF :o
Seriously, wtf?
Maybe a formality to throw the books at career criminals? e.g. if you make a living off stolen goods they get you for tax fraud in addition to larceny.
Kind of a variation of the 'Untouchables' strategy used by accountants against Al Capone.
I would think the biggest thieves reporting to the IRS, would already be working at the IRS. :coolsmiley:
The funny thing is I think the IRS is saying you can go ahead and make a living off of stealing but please remember to pay your taxes on that "income".
Yep, as a former IRS auditor, I can confirm that illegal income is still taxable income. We didn't judge (usually). In fact, part of my job was to look in the paper for people who had committed profitable crimes. Embezzled half a million from your company? Fine with us, as long as you declared it as income. (If you disguised it as something else on your 1040, we understood.) If you didn't disguise it and put on your return that you made $80,000 as a hooker or a burglar, then we have no problem with you and won't report you to the cops. In fact we can't tell the cops. Tax privacy laws made it illegal for us to do so. (There were two exceptions : income from illegal drug sales or child pornography.)
I only did it for a year, but I came away with a lifetime of amazing stories. One guy was being pursued in a county-wide manhunt for child molesting. On the run or not, he still showed up right on time for his tax audit. The police were waiting for him in the lobby as he came out of my office. (I'm pretty sure that his ex-wife - who was being audited for the same return - had dropped a dime on him.)
Quote from: Senex on February 11, 2022, 05:57:41 PM
Yep, as a former IRS auditor, I can confirm that illegal income is still taxable income. We didn't judge (usually). In fact, part of my job was to look in the paper for people who had committed profitable crimes. Embezzled half a million from your company? Fine with us, as long as you declared it as income. (If you disguised it as something else on your 1040, we understood.) If you didn't disguise it and put on your return that you made $80,000 as a hooker or a burglar, then we have no problem with you and won't report you to the cops. In fact we can't tell the cops. Tax privacy laws made it illegal for us to do so. (There were two exceptions : income from illegal drug sales or child pornography.)
I only did it for a year, but I came away with a lifetime of amazing stories. One guy was being pursued in a county-wide manhunt for child molesting. On the run or not, he still showed up right on time for his tax audit. The police were waiting for him in the lobby as he came out of my office. (I'm pretty sure that his ex-wife - who was being audited for the same return - had dropped a dime on him.)
Great input! Thanks for weighing in. O0 Looks like I've got a bunch of years of taxes to catch up on.... :2funny:
In all seriousness, I assume if someone was under investigation by the FBI and had been declaring their illegal income to the IRS, it would take only take a couple short phone calls before the Party Van arrives to said person's house and takes them away in cuffs. So, if you're only committing a
little crime and staying under the radar, it sounds like you'd be better off declaring your illegal gains than not?
Come back to Grogheads for more unethical life pro tips!
That is really interesting, Senex!