home run Ball? IRS Taxing it!?

Question

The guy who caught Barry Bonds home run ball wanted to keep it so The IRS wanted to tax him on the value of the ball he does not have the money for the taxes so he has to sell it.

Do you Think that the IRS is wrong should they wait for him to sell to charge Tax why can they charge tax on a baseball that has created no income until it's sold

Answer 1

Yes, I do think that the IRS is wrong about wanting to tax him on the value of the ball without having sold it, but unfortunately, they make the rules, so we have to play by them (kind of like, it's my ball, so it's my rules, if you don't like it, I'll take my ball and go home. In this case it's not the IRS's ball, but they're taking it anyways, and going home with it. lol)

Answer 2

No one other than some kook attorney has said anything about the IRS having any public position on this issue. This is such a rare circumstance that anyone including the IRS would just be guessing what the tax consequences might be of having caught this ball. Let us imagine that Mr Murphy caught the ball and took it home never having any intention of selling it or making any money off the fact that he possess such a prize. What would be it's value. I would take the position that he has a basis of the price of his ticket to the game and no gain. Some IRS examiner might have another opinion and the courts would resolve this issue years from now. At this point I would advise Mr. Murphy to be very careful how he proceeds with the found property which he seems to have recovered. If I am correct that there is no taxable event until he sells the ball let's look at another possibility. He "gifts" the ball to his dieing cousin (a non taxable event) who leaves it to me in his will (a non taxable event when I inherit the ball but the basis is now the MFV). Being the gracious person that I am I gift it to Mr. Murphy (a non taxable event to Mr. Murphy). I report the gift (estimated value $3Mil) on a form 709 and die insolvent. What do you think? Would this plan work?

Answer 3

The ball is not an investment. He did not win the ball. Therefor he cannot be taxed on it. Only once he sells the ball can he be taxed. Nor can the IRS speculate the value of this item and just decide to tax you. Think about this. If he lost the ball, are they going to let him right it off? There is no way that the IRS can tax him on this when it was not won nor was it purchased.

Answer 4

I have not been able to find a single piece of evidence that the IRS intends to tax "the ball" owner prior to his selling it. The IRS have wisely said very little about the issue. A couple of attorneys have proclaim to the press that the guy will be subject to tax but there is no evidence that they know anything about tax matters. They get a few minutes of fame and we all go crazy. The lesson to be learned is that you should not believe every thing that you hear on TV and if it comes from an attorney surely question it.

Answer 5

The argument of why it should be taxed is the "door prize" theory. If you attended a function, and they gave away a door prize, in this case the BB 756 ball, you would be taxed on it. The ballgame is very similar. Whoever catches the ball has won the prize.

So what was the ball worth. Probably $10 before it became 756 ... but the instant the ball passed over the fence, it became worth an estimated $500,000. Look at the melee that occurred. It wasn't because it was a $10 ball ... it was because it was a ball worth an estimated $500,000.

That is the argument on how/why it should be taxed.

The previous posts that state that something has to generate income to be taxable are wrong. Enter a raffle, win a door prize, etc. Often, the item is non cash ... and it is clearly taxable.

Answer 6

If you read that story again, it wasn't the IRS that wanted to tax it. The IRS has "no position" on the matter and the guy that was taking a position was a tax accountant speaking for the publicity. My opinion as a fellow tax accountant? The value of the ball is what it sells for. The tax basis of the ball is the cost of the ticket to go to the game at the most and the cost of the ticket divided by the number of balls hit into or thrown into the stands during that game at the least.

So if he paid 50 bucks for the ticket and 50 balls were used during the game, then his tax basis is $1. When he sells it for 500K he has a short-term capital gain of $499,999 which will be taxed at the short-term capital gain rate of (most likely) 28%.

Answer 7

bull-sh&% they are. The IRS isn't taxing it. One goofy tax lawyer who apparently wanted publicity made an announcement that the value of the ball would be taxed whether the guy sold it or not. In a previous similar instance a few years ago, the IRS tax commissioner had made an announcement saying basically that that would be crazy.

If he sells it, then he'd be taxed on his profit, which would be almost all of the sale price.

Check your sources. What you are hearing isn't true.

Answer 8

I believe the IRS has no right to tax him the "value" of the ball. The ball really cannot be valued at that since it has never been sold and has no proven amount for them to base the value off of.

Answer 9

It's the same principle as winning the lottery.... he bought a ticket and received a valuable prize.

If all of the other attendees of the same game would claim a loss on their taxes equal to the amount of money the spent on their tickets, then the IRS would get the message.

I personally think that the taxing of any prize, from an event where there is a chance to lose the money you spent to enter the event, is immoral. But not nearly as immoral as the inheritance tax.

Answer 10

if over a certain value itmes are taxed be it lottery winnings, Contest Prizes like that new car you won at the fair - it will be taxed -- so the IRS can tax what ever they want

Some states are even trying to tax items bought on a reservation if the person is not Native American.

Or items bought across state lines because of the lower state tax