Fan returns Jeter's 3,000th Home Run Ball

[Miss March]

They saw that had he sold this ball, he might have made up to $250,000, but Christian Lopez was happy to hand the ball back to Derek Jeter- saying that he earned it.   

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Fan-returns-3-000th-hit-to-Jeter-team-rewards-h?urn=mlb-wp12123

[Outdoor Girl]

But apparently, no good deed goes unpunished.  I heard that the Yankees gifted him with a number of items worth a subsantial amount and now the IRS wants $10,000 in taxes!

I still think he did the right thing...

[Aeris]

But apparently, no good deed goes unpunished.  I heard that the Yankees gifted him with a number of items worth a subsantial amount and now the IRS wants $10,000 in taxes!

I still think he did the right thing...

As far as I know the IRS has not come out and made any kind of statement or pronouncement on the subject. All that has happened is that tax experts (i.e., tax lawyers/professors, not IRS people) have looked at the situation and said it seems very likely that the stuff he got will have to be reported as income, and income generally has a tax burden associated with it. It's just a basic tax concept.

[Outdoor Girl]

But apparently, no good deed goes unpunished.  I heard that the Yankees gifted him with a number of items worth a subsantial amount and now the IRS wants $10,000 in taxes!

I still think he did the right thing...

As far as I know the IRS has not come out and made any kind of statement or pronouncement on the subject. All that has happened is that tax experts (i.e., tax lawyers/professors, not IRS people) have looked at the situation and said it seems very likely that the stuff he got will have to be reported as income, and income generally has a tax burden associated with it. It's just a basic tax concept.

Thanks!  I was hearing the story secondhand...  But I still think it sucks for the poor guy.  If he'd kept the ball, he wouldn't owe anything.

[Aeris]

But apparently, no good deed goes unpunished.  I heard that the Yankees gifted him with a number of items worth a subsantial amount and now the IRS wants $10,000 in taxes!

I still think he did the right thing...

As far as I know the IRS has not come out and made any kind of statement or pronouncement on the subject. All that has happened is that tax experts (i.e., tax lawyers/professors, not IRS people) have looked at the situation and said it seems very likely that the stuff he got will have to be reported as income, and income generally has a tax burden associated with it. It's just a basic tax concept.

Thanks!  I was hearing the story secondhand...  But I still think it sucks for the poor guy.  If he'd kept the ball, he wouldn't owe anything.

That's actually not entirely true. If he kept the ball, and then sold it, he would in all likelihood owe taxes. If he just kept it and put it on his shelf, he *might* not, but that's primarily because it would be nearly impossible to put an accurate value on, not because it's somehow an inherently different activity.

ETA: Sorry for jumping on you, just feel like people are quick to blame the IRS for things that are essentially standard/basic tax issues (that people don't have any real problem with in 99.999% of situations). I just meant to point out that the IRS is not sharpening its teeth once it hears that something good as happened to someone, and trying to figure out how they can ruin it.

[gollymolly2]

Honestly, normally I'm a sucker for this kind of thing but I'm honestly underwhelmed in this case.  I think he made a foolish decision.  Derek Jeter (and I have no opinion on him so this is not born out of Jeter-hate) is a very wealthy man because he plays baseball.  Jeter would not have had any financial difficulty paying $200k if he wanted the ball. And perhaps this man could have given Jeter right of first refusal and sold it to him at a much lower price, if he felt like that was in the spirit of the game.

But for a dude with student loan debt to give an expensive gift to someone who could easily have bought it .... meh.  I'm not as impressed with this guy as some others are.  I get that he was acting with good intentions, I just think they were dumb ones.


And I'm glad Aeris jumped in with the tax information - although I guess we can probably expect that now that she's officially (I think) a tax lawyer.  In the comments on the article posted above, someone said the president was going after this guys money.  I got a good laugh out of picturing President Obama leaned back at this desk in the oval office, scrolling through ESPN.com, and yelling "Hooray!  Some guy got free seats!  Send the IRS to attack!"

[heartmug]

http://consumerist.com/2011/07/miller-high-life-says-it-will-come-to-rescue-of-man-who-caught-derek-jeters-3000th-hit.html

What I read about it.

[Miss March]

Wow! That's rather classy of Miller High Life to step up like that!

It's nice when an act of graciousness prompts others to be equally gracious.