Next time, just throw it back.
Accountants say the man who caught the home run ball that Derek Jeter smashed for his 3,000th hit Saturday will have to pay as much as $14,000 in taxes, New York media report.
Christian Lopez, 23, caught the ball and promptly handed it over to the Yankees without demanding any kind of payment, the Daily News reported. The Yankees rewarded him with suite seats for the rest of the season, plus a heap of autographed team memorabilia.
That's what could cost Lopez. According to The New York Times, the total value of the seats and loot could exceed $120,000. The IRS would consider that to be taxable income, several accountants told both newspapers.
However, if it were construed as a gift, it would not be taxable, Columbia University law professor Michael J. Graetz told the Times.
"The legal question of whether it is a gift or prize is whether the transferor is giving the property out of detached and disinterested generosity," Graetz said. "It's hard for me, not being a Yankee fan, to think of the Yankees as being in the business of exercising generosity to others, but there's a reasonable case to be made that these were given out of generosity."
For his part, Lopez is being just as magnanimous with the IRS as he was with Jeter.
"Worse comes to worse, I'll have to pay the taxes," he told the Daily News. "... 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."
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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The fan who caught the ball should pay all tax due on the compensation for returning the ball because when he returned the ball he knew they where going to give him something for that. That fact that they probably gave him less then the worth of th ball the him own problem and therefore this case is a business Deal that went bad for the fan
Jeter should write the fan a check to cover his expenses and a some extra. Or if the ball isn't that important to him then return the ball. I think Jeter has enough money to cover the situation. After all, it's fans that generated the revenue that paid this guy over the years. Maybe the fans are not that important to Jeter and this episode will allow him to display his level of interest in the fans that made his career. This might just be an up yours to the fans moment for Jeter. Jeter could be more important than any of the fans out there in the stands and now Jeter has found the right moment to set us all straight.
Whoever wrote this article, one word for you..... BUSH!
Everyone is acting like this is new, or Obama's fault. The IRS has had gift taxes in place for decades. If someone gives you something worth any amount, you're supposed to report it. There are specific exception for some cases involving family members, but this is no different from winning a lottery, game show, etc. Those things have always been taxable.
But hey, don't let that stop you from yelling about how horrible the IRS has become recently.
What is it? It's a ball. To me is worth zoro (not thing)
They're not talking about taxing the ball. They're talking about taking the things the team are giving the guy – free tickets etc.
http://www.fairtax.org – Abolish the IRS!!!
Somebody needs to reign in the IRS. This guy did not earn any income. He didn't play the lottery. He went to a baseball game; he caught a ball and then gave it back to the team. As a thank you for catching the ball, this guy gets a front row seat. How does he owe taxes? Maybe if he rents out his seats....otherwise the IRS needs to back off.
He was given something of value and thus financially gained from the transaction. Otherwise companies could just give people stuff (houses, cars, yachts, whatever) instead of paying them and avoid taxes.
If the Yankees were classy they would given him enough cash to cover the taxes.
I went to hit (REPLY) and hit (REPORT ABUSE) instead. OOPS.
wouldnt he have to then pay taxes on the 14 grand they give him to cover the initial taxes...
If any taxes are owed, the Yankees should pay them.
To billy james the facts r there fell free to close ur eyes to most of the story but that dose not change that full truth of the story
Serves the idiot right for giving the ball back in the first place.
The selfishness you display is exactly the cause of all the problems in America today.
WHY is there even a question about this ? It's obviously a GIFT, not a prize AT ALL. A prize is something you win based on entering a contest. Obviously there was no contest here. The lottery is a contest and the prize is a bunch of money, but you have to WIN that money. If a lottery official GAVE me millions of $ without me buying a lottery ticker, that's a GIFT. These accountants need to go back to ACCT-101.
It's a Gift. He gave the ball and asked for nothing in return.
The Yankees gave the seats and memorabilia as a gift to a cool fan who demonstrated great dedication to the team.
I would file as such and let the IRS try prove otherwise.
All of the items given to the fan should be considered as a gift. There is no evidence that the fan knew for a fact that he would be compensated for returning the ball. If he was returning the ball as an act of greed, it would have behooved him to keep the ball and put it up for auction. I'm sure Mcfarlane wold pay top dollar for it.
...land of the "free" huh?
The country is in deep financial trouble right now. We can't afford for the IRS to cut breaks for people like this who have so much just for recreational stuff like baseball. It's like the new laws passed in California that forbids police to give warnings when the state could rake in $450 for a seatbelt violation. He owes the $14,000 and if he's not willing to pay, he should return the items or face jail time.
The moral of the story is simple: if anybody does anything for you or gives you anything nice, you should run away screaming as fast as you can.
Who cares, he should have kept it anyways. Guess he wasn't thinking about his retirement huh?