IRS questions people to notify income from ‘unlawful activities’ on the tax return and people have queries
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) wants individuals to record their “illegal actions” and “theft of property” on their tax returns, and people have a lot of concerns about how to go about doing this.
On Monday, a screenshot leaked on Twitter that seemed to depict an Internal Revenue Service guideline urging individuals to declare the value of any property they have stolen or obtained via other unlawful actions as income each year so that they may be taxed on it.
Moreover, guess what? It just so happens that the guideline is accurate. Publication 17 of the IRS, accessible on the IRS website, has a section that discusses this issue. Among other things, the following is what the section has to say about it:
If you steal something, you must include its fair market value in your income for the year in which you stole it unless you restore it to its lawful owner within the same year.
Tax szn is around the corner. Remember to report your income from illegal activities and stolen property to the IRS pic.twitter.com/c4S1yMZJLz
— litquidity (@litcapital) December 27, 2021
Many individuals expressed their opinions in the comments section of the Twitter post.
As far as I can tell, this is the official memo from Uncle Sam. Someone humorously stated, “You may commit financial crimes as long as the government gets a piece of the action.”
“This is a real situation. “The United States government is not a joke when it comes to collecting taxes,” said another. Third, “Your friendly neighborhood accountant warning everyone that tax season is approaching and that tax avoidance is detrimental.”
Some people have expressed skepticism about the practice of reporting unlawful actions to the authorities on many occasions in the past.
According to United States v. Sullivan (1927), the United States Supreme Court addressed whether or not punishing felons for dodging taxes on their illicit income violated the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
It is a provision of the Constitution that protects persons from being incriminated without their will. However, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. ultimately decided against considering the case.
The court’s decision has remained unchanged over 100 years after being issued. Several criminals, notably Chicago mobster Al Capone in 1931, have fallen to tax evasion convictions similarly to this.
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