Since I am self-employed every January I review the IRS web site for any changes to the tax laws and what I found was hard to believe. I can only assume one night someone with the power to make these rules at the IRS was watching Jay Leno as he was doing a comedy routine on crazy things to tax, and they said Hey, what a great idea! There really is no other logical explanation. Check this out: According to the IRS for the 2021 tax year, if you stole a car, you must report the reasonable value of that vehicle as “income received”. Oddly, the IRS goes on to tell you how to avoid this. If you steal a car, you can use it all year long, you can drive it, live in it, or even use it as a dog boarding facility but if you return it to the person you stole it from before December 31st of 2021, you do not need to report it as income received.
Drug Dealers must report illegal drug sales to the IRS
This next new IRS law I found is just as interesting. Due to the highest inflation our great nation has seen in 40yrs, millions of Americans must find a second job to survive, so with limited options let’s say you decide you are going to sell illegal drugs. Great idea, it could work, but you need to understand the recent changes require you to claim all the sales of those drugs on your 2021 tax returns. True story, I don’t just make this stuff up!
Received a bribe in 2021? IRS says you must report it.
But wait, there’s more! Imagine within days of starting your new business a neighbor notices you selling illegal drugs, and they demand a little hush money from you to stay quiet. You can expect this because there is no honor amongst thieves. The good news is if you pay them to keep quiet the IRS says you can claim that as an operating expense on your illegal drug sales. This seems like a perfect time to note that new for 2021 all “bribes” received must also be reported to the IRS as income. Maybe if drug dealers explain this to those demanding hush money from them, they will realize it is not worth all that extra effort of reporting it and will just walk away with nothing.
Thank God Criminals are nice, honest folk, otherwise this would never work.
Considering the history of our government, I was surprised they included money received from a bribe must be claimed as income. I anticipate that this will be removed in 2022 once our elected officials realize the implications of this new tax law.
After reviewing these rules, I had questions, so I contacted the IRS and asked, “If I steal three cars, and someone steals them from me, can I write that off as a loss?” They never responded back. I can only assume they are too busy counting the buckets of cash they are receiving from all the criminals reporting their illegal activities.
Greg Rosen is a father, Husband, Realtor, and humorist writer for publications in Oregon. Questions or comments can be sent to [email protected].