IRS: “If You Steal Property, You Must Report Its (Fair Market Value) In the Year You Steal It, …

The IRS (THEIRS) has rules for everything, including your legal obligation to report property you have stolen as taxable income. Yes, you read that right. Thieves are required to report the fair market value of what they pilfer.

Unless they gave it back.

According to IRS Publication 525, taxpayers are legally required to report the value of whatever property they stole during the tax year.

“If you steal property, you must report its FMV (Fair Market Value) in your income in the year you steal it, unless in the same year you return it to its rightful owner,” the rule reads.

The same rule applies to bribery, drug deals and other income-earning crimes.

Taxation is theft, and theft is taxable, so taxation of theft is..?

Remember, the IRS requires you to report all income from illegal activities pic.twitter.com/6I1ocQOzWL

— Genevieve Roch-Decter, CFA (@GRDecter) March 6, 2023

How do we know if you gave it back? Is there a form like if you cash out an IRA but then reinvest into another one?

And what about all those CCTV videos of people in Democrat-run cities shoplifting hundreds of (hundreds of) dollars worth of merch, knowing they won’t get arrested? Could they go to jail if they don’t report it on their 1040?

I suppose the next thing you’re going to tell us is you’ll have to pay a 70% tax on your “reparations.”

What about student loan forgiveness? If that happens, will the IRS expect it to be reported as income so they can tax it?

Does anyone think they won’t?

The moral of the story. You can steal from anyone but the government, which is strange because that’s about the only thing at which the Government is any good.

IRS Publication 525 (I looked, it’s in there).

Stolen property.
If you steal property, you must report its FMV in your income in the year you steal it, unless in the same year you return it to its rightful owner.

Illegal activities.
Income from illegal activities, such as money from dealing illegal drugs, must be included in your income on Schedule 1 (Form 1040), line 8z, or on Schedule C (Form 1040) if from your self-employment activity.