do you have to claim money raised from a benefit on your taxes?

Question

this came from a public fund raiser and not fromthe government
just as if a person gave you a lot of money

Answer 1

You haven't provided any details so it's hard to give an accurate answer.

If you have fallen on hard times and friends, family, coworkers, etc. have had a voluntary fundraiser for your benefit -- and totally without any request from you -- you can consider these funds as a bona-fide gift. No tax is due from the recipient of a bona-fide gift.

A CRITICAL component of a bona-fide gift is that the giver has no expectation of anything in return. If the giver gets anything in return, even if it's only free publicity, then it's NOT a bona-fide gift and is fully taxable to you. (Those cars given to the audience on Oprah were fully taxable to the recipients since Oprah got a TON of free publicity from the stunt.)

The people who donated the funds (or whatever) do not get a deduction for their gift as you are not a registered charity. If any single one of them gave you more than $12,000 they would have to file a Gift Tax return and they might owe Gift Tax on their gift. You, however, would owe nothing.

If you ASKED for the money, that is considered taxable income to you and you must report it along with any other income and pay tax on it. This would be classified as "begging" income and that is fully taxable.

If this explanation does not fit your situation the please post additional details and I'll try to give you a better answer.

Answer 2

No. If it's taxes, your either getting your own money back from the government, or your taking money out of someone elses pocket through the redistribution of wealth via the government. Either way our tax system stinks. Look up "the fair tax" and support it.