Fan Who Caught Jeter's 3,000th Hit May Owe IRS Thousands

Originally posted by thisguyrighthere
Congratulations on catching the ball, now pay us 40% of the estimated auction value of it.

Until its sold at auction for a specified amount, the value of the ball is exactly the price of a ball. What's that make it, around $5.00 USD? I would have given the IRS their $.35 and told them to go suck wind. They can bill me the estimated value of the ball if it is ever sold, and they can tax me on the actual amount its sold for, not some estimate made up by them.

Originally posted by The Revenant
Try and find the statute that gives the IRS lawful authority over the people, as a branch of government, in the United States. Go on, I DARE you.

Since you DARED me:

Title 26, Sections 1, 61, 62, 63, 3402, 6011 and 6012.

uscode.house.gov...

wait til they start taxing you on birthday. xmas, wedding gifts....

reply to post by HomerinNC


You should have said....wait until they start 'enforcing' the tax on birthday, xmas, wedding gifts, etc...

Simple solution. Change the law so it says "the holder of the (event) must pay the taxes..." That's how it is here. You win something it's tax free for you cause the entity holding the competition or whatever must pay them.

reply to post by TDawgRex


its a gift
not a prize
if they were going that route i would find out how much the ball that was gifted to the player was worth and tell them to handle that too lolol
our favorite pastime is not even safe

technically, he traded the ball for the goods received and, since he had no basis in the ball he traded away (unless you count the price of admission), the value of the items received would be capital gain property but the IRS doesn't accept that stance. Instead, they look at the things received as prizes which are taxable.

if they were gifts, they wouldn't be taxable by the recipient. the person giving the gift would pay the gift tax and companies can't give gifts so it has to be a prize or award.

thus he's stuck.


Personally, I'd have made a deal with the yankees and jeter to protect myself from IRS scrutiny. First aspect of the deal - silence as to the finder of the ball. Second aspect - silence as to the terms agreed upon in my giving the ball to Jeter.

I would have dealt directly with him, instead of the Yankees. Jeter has had his share to tax issues over the years (claimed Florida residency and got caught owing the State a ton of money) and would be willing to work something out that protected everyone involved from future tax liability.

The IRS figures, he's stupid enough to throw away a ball, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars...he's probably stupid enough to pay the taxes, on items that were GIVEN to him. What in the world was that man thinking? WHY sir, did you give the ball back...ARE YOU INSANE??? The days of being a good 'samaritan' are OVA. Now-a-days...it's every DOG for himself!

Whats sad is, this kid is going to get penalized for NOT selling the ball. Estimates are that the ball would have sold for $250,000-$500,000. HE could have sold it, paid the taxes (and his college debt) with the money from it, and still had plenty left.

Instead, he chose to give this iconic piece of memorabilia to the man who hit it, Jeter, and he is going to have to pay out of pocket because of that.

Really, really sad statement on doing the moral thing.

reply to post by captaintyinknots


When the Govt gets involved, no good deed goes unpunished.

He could just sell his rest of the season box seats to pay for the tax. I'm sure those tickets would go for a pretty penny.

reply to post by KnightFire


The tax code is messed up. If you get part of a loan charged off, you are expected to pay taxes on the loan forgiveness as if it was income, even if the company that charged off the loan doesn't tell you. Whether you know it or not, you are still responsible for taxes. You can get hit with a huge tax bill even if the company charging off the debt never informs you they did so. So them charging taxes on this man's reward is par for the course.

The IRS doesn't operate on logic. The reason a debt is charged off is because the consumer can't pay it. How in the heck does the IRS expect to get their money? Sometimes with a SWAT team and automatic weapons. That's how.

I think the government went after the mob because it hates competition.

Nice to see the generosity of the man but I have to say that with his statement below, he is doing nothing for anyone and is actually adding to an even bigger problem in America by not even protesting an injustice by the Government.

I am glad he caught the ball, I am amazed at his generosity in giving the ball back but I am disgusted with his unwillingness to stand up and fight an injustice. Just take it and that's it.

Sorry Dude.

"Worse comes to worse, I'll have to pay the taxes," he told the Daily News on Monday. "I'm not going to return the seats. I have a lot of family and friends who will help me out if need be. "The IRS has a job to do, so I'm not going to hold it against them, but it would be cool if they helped me out a little on this."

Why are you guys so surprised at this?? Every one of us is getting the same treatment from the government. You make money, it gets taxed. You spend money, it gets taxed. You win something, it gets taxed (just try winning something in Vegas, the IRS agents appear seemingly out of thin air). You get something for free, it gets taxed. We go to work every day and earn an income, the government takes their cut right off the top. Then we go to spend that money on gas, food and shelter and the government takes another cut, despite the fact that it has ALREADY been taxed. What's that? But I thought double-taxation was illegal? HA! The loophole is that they say the vendor is paying the second tax. But are they? When you go to the store and buy something for 9.99 is that what it costs when you check out? Noooooo, it's more, because they ADD the tax at checkout, WE are paying it, not the vendor!! And what if you don't spend the money, it doesn't get double-taxed then, right? WRONG! The government is ever-patient, whatever you have left over when you die gets hit with the Estate Tax! The government is bleeding us dry, every single time money changes hands it gets taxed. And what do we have to show for it? Massive debt, because the government can't make due with what we give it, so it begs borrows and steals wherever it can and leaves a trail of IOUs. It's pitiful.

Lesson learned, keep the damn ball!!!!!!

reply to post by SavedOne


income is taxed by the IRS, some states and some localities.
Sales are taxed by states and localities. There is no federal sales tax and claiming that having to pay both is double taxation isn't quite on the mark.

the taxes are all unfair and the way we are forced to pay should be changed. no doubt about it. hell, add a federal sales tax on all internet business that orginiates or ends in the US. nothing major, 1% on anything under $25, 3% on anythi8ng from 25.01 to 100.00 and 5% on anything over $100.

reply to post by jude11


I am replying to the quote by the man who caught the ball. This man deserves to have the IRS crawl up his A$$ and take every penny he has... If this man is able to say Oh gee my family and friends will help me pay my taxes for catching this really cool ball that is ONLY WORTH $8.00 USD. But has a perceived value of $250,000.00 or more. He is not doing us or he nation a favor by paying his so called fair share. He is hurting all of us by demonstrating how stupid many are in this country. As long as he can drink his beer, watch pro sports and reality TV and go rah rah when his team makes a goal, runs a touch down or steals a base he is happy.
His ignorance and apathy contributes to the Gov’t ability to pass laws which enable it to steal from the remainder of the hard working, educated and socially responsible citizens.

He is not only stupid he is a disgrace to all of us.

Sad

I would have never given that ball back.The fact that Jeter has made over 200,000,000 million playing baseball and the high ticket prices somebody would have paid big time.Jeter should pay his taxes at least that ball was worth a couple hundred thousand maybe millions at auction.Baseball is expensive and the fans pay for it I am a true fan but that was a once in a lifetime event .

reply to post by SavedOne


I totally agree by the time its all said and done they take over half of the money made

The items were gifted to him = no tax this was not a prize event. Gifts are not taxable as far as I know. A good tax accountant and some state decs from the Team management that this was a gift will get him out of trouble.