from Hacker News

IRS: Stolen property must be reported as income on taxes

by xojoc on 12/29/21, 5:06 PM with 230 comments

• by travisd on 12/29/21, 5:39 PM

  Don’t forget this gem:

  > Missing or Kidnapped Children: You may be able to claim a child who was kidnapped by a non-family member. IRS treats a kidnapped child as living with you for more than half of the year if the child lived with you for more than half the part of the year before the date of the kidnapping.

  https://www.eitc.irs.gov/other-refundable-credits-toolkit/un...

• by nradov on 12/29/21, 5:41 PM

  Yes income is income, regardless of how obtained. This mainly gives Federal prosecutors an additional tool to nail criminals. Even if prosecutors can't meet the legal burden of proof for theft they can still get the thief for tax fraud.

• by adamgordonbell on 12/29/21, 5:55 PM

  I've heard that in Canada you can get a tax lawyer to help you pay taxes on your illegal income. You get a special number to pay with and have the laywer handle it. The CRA would rather have the money than not and it means if you ever get caught you won't go down for tax evasion because you can show that you paid taxes using an anonymous number.

• by vmception on 12/29/21, 5:44 PM

  I like how this article points out the appeals court ruling that the fifth amendment protects against this form of self incrimination

  But the Supreme Court reversed it, which could lead some to want to disagree with how the court uses the constitution

  But its important to remember that income taxes require a newer amendment to the constitution to begin with

  So although the bill of rights (first 10 amendments) was pretty solid, at the time with an understood balance for the society, the appeals court neglected to consider the 16th amendment, which operates outside of that balance. Any amendment can undermine other parts of the constitution or break the point of the whole thing.

• by arcticbull on 12/29/21, 6:55 PM

  To the folks saying that the "IRS doesn't care about the crime, they just want the money" I think you have it backwards. This whole system is set up as a trap for criminals.

  The idea is that they don't want you to pay so that they can prosecute you for tax fraud, which in many cases is a much easier charge to prove. For instance, why prove theft of property when you can instead demonstrate that you own the property and didn't pay taxes for it?

  If a crime is committed the state will get their cut in the end anyways.

  They have to make it possible for you to pay without incriminating yourself so that you can be charged for not doing so. This is one tax they would rather you not pay.

• by Jerrrry on 12/29/21, 6:02 PM

  This has always been the case.

  Those numbers cannot be used against you.

  They will, however, lead to parallel construction from another 3-letter agency, just by coincidence, and your opsec is as good as compromised at that point.

• by sschueller on 12/29/21, 5:54 PM

  Great, what we should be doing is taxing capital gain at a hire rate than physical labor. Why does anyone think it's OK to pay less on money you made with money you have? Especially when the difference can be as great as +25%.

• by backtoyoujim on 12/29/21, 7:05 PM

  Do police civil forfeiture seizures on the US federal roadways count as "stolen" ?

• by bruceb on 12/29/21, 6:14 PM

  Lesson here is clear. Steal on Jan 1, use for the year, return Dec 31st, owe no taxes.

• by bredren on 12/29/21, 5:51 PM

  Non-citizen workers also are expected to pay taxes on “illegal” work income. IIRC, the IRS has clear ways to do this without a SSN and that this is mandatory if trying to build toward citizenship.

  Seems like a dicey place to be given how fiercely ICE has been deployed in the US recently though.

• by synergy20 on 12/29/21, 7:13 PM

  What about "if you shoplift $950 it is OK and you will not be charged"? maybe they can pay some taxes? :)

• by PaulHoule on 12/29/21, 6:17 PM

  They busted Al Capone for tax evasion. Everybody was too scared to testify against him for his other crimes.

• by nashashmi on 12/29/21, 5:46 PM

  What happens when the property is returned to the rightful owner?

• by charlieyu1 on 12/30/21, 4:58 AM

  I thought it is commonly known? Tax authorities don’t care about where your money come from, they only care about the portion they could take

• by irrational on 12/29/21, 6:40 PM

  I can’t imagine anyone has ever actually reported their theft as income, but are there any cases of thieves being prosecuted for tax evasion?

• by wellthisisgreat on 12/29/21, 6:07 PM

  I heard many times that IRS is the toughest of all law enforcement agencies. This is some assertion of dominance if I've ever seen one.

• by brodouevencode on 12/29/21, 6:43 PM

  The IRS only cares if you steal from __them__

• by cblconfederate on 12/29/21, 5:07 PM

  I mean how am I supposed to know its fair market price? I got it for $0 mr. Taxman!

• by dusted on 12/29/21, 7:35 PM

  I think that's only fair, to be honest.

• by grishka on 12/29/21, 6:11 PM

  The link returns a 403 for me.

• by rietta on 12/29/21, 5:50 PM

  The tax man always gets his vig.