There are presently several interesting debates taking place on a few of the tax blogs concerning the taxability of this historic baseball.......Some interesting choices are:
1. The fan who caught the ball should not owe tax until he or she sells it. This seems to be the common sense view however common sense generally has nothing to do with the tax code.
2. It is taxable income to the fan, based on FMV, the moment that person catches it under the "accession to wealth doctrine." This view logically stems from cases saying that the fan finds a "treasure trove" and owes tax on it right away.
3. It is a gift to the fan and the donor owes gift tax on it. This raises the debate as to who the donor actually is.
I have not reached a decision myself on this (it is getting late on a Friday evening and there is a ballgame on TV) however I thought we might get some interesting and diverse opions on this.
1. The fan who caught the ball should not owe tax until he or she sells it. This seems to be the common sense view however common sense generally has nothing to do with the tax code.
2. It is taxable income to the fan, based on FMV, the moment that person catches it under the "accession to wealth doctrine." This view logically stems from cases saying that the fan finds a "treasure trove" and owes tax on it right away.
3. It is a gift to the fan and the donor owes gift tax on it. This raises the debate as to who the donor actually is.
I have not reached a decision myself on this (it is getting late on a Friday evening and there is a ballgame on TV) however I thought we might get some interesting and diverse opions on this.
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