As the year comes to an end, it is now time once again to begin thinking about your taxes. Tax day is still a few months from now, but for a lot of people who are not great at keeping their books, tax season may be a very stressful time as far as making sure you have got all the required paperwork for all the income you have earned through the year and the deductions you can claim.
Of course, the tax code is very complex and some people depend on professionals to do their taxes for them. The experts have a better understanding of all the things you should be able to claim so that you can lower your tax burden, and they can also make you aware of items that you must claim as income if you do not want to take a chance on getting audited.
While you most definitely would not be expected to know everything — or even almost everything — of what is written in the tax code, but there is something that the IRS expects everyone to claim as part of their income and it is so crazy that you will not believe it.
The IRS says, “If you steal property, you have to include its value with your income in the tax year that you stole it unless it is returned it to its true owner during the same year.”
Well, I'm sure we can expect all the folks in those Bay Area group-loot sessions to be honest when they file. pic.twitter.com/skr1EtvBUW
— Justin Hart (@justin_hart) December 27, 2021
So, do you think this means that, if you are a looter and you exploited the Minneapolis riots during the summer or you were part of the smash-and-grab crime spree that happened in San Francisco, the Internal Revenue Service will actually expect you to claim those stolen goods as income on your taxes?
I don’t think so, but because the IRS is an agency within the government, who knows? However, the infamous Al Capone ultimately had justice handed to him over tax evasion — not murder, bootlegging, or racketeering.
If Al Capone had only thought to declare all of his illicit income and he had paid taxes on it, he might have spent his entire life a free man.
Author: Steven Sinclaire