Posted on 02/27/2014 1:26:08 PM PST by Doogle
One couple's gold find could mean a jackpot for the IRS.
The Northern California couple that found $10 million worth of rare, mint-condition gold coins buried in the shadow of an old tree on their property will likely owe about half the find's value whether they sell the gold or not.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the find is a taxable event under a 1969 federal court ruling that held a "treasure trove" is taxable the year it was discovered.
"If you find and keep property that does not belong to you that has been lost or abandoned (treasure-trove), it is taxable to you at its fair market value in the first year it is your undisputed possession,” the report said, citing the IRS tax guide.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
They CAN'T take your most precious asset: your eternal soul.
THAT you must GIVE them.
They could hire a good lawyer who would accept the other 50% for their attorney fees.
The condition of the coins and arrangement in the cans indicates they were collected and stored over time. One can holds the oldest coins, and others were stashed in ascending chronological order.
Amusingly, the Bible has almost the exact set of events as an example of how ownership should be decided...with the exception that likely the couple didn’t know of the coins prior to purchasing the property.
When we lived in Saudi Arabia (early 1980's), we would go into town and visit the gold souk (market) on occasion.
They had REAL GOLD BARS for sale.
There was a smallish one and I asked the price. It was called the "Hershey bar" because it was IDENTICAL to the size of a standard Hershey bar. It was $44,000.00. I don't even remember the price is Saudi riyals!!
"hire a good lawyer"??? Are you NUTS?! No attorney ALIVE would touch that with a 10-foot pole. The attorney's company of Smiley, Dodger, Shifty, Golddigger and Jones would KNOW that the coins had been someone's "loot," that is, ill-gotten gains.
They would offer to DEFEND the gold seller...at the NOMINAL fee of, well, EVERYTHING. But maybe that wouldn't even be enough for SDSG&J!!
My 2 cents.
Agreed. They brought the property. It included the home, the landscape, the dirt - and the gold.
yep, selling them slowly and declaring the sales a little each year would have reduced the taxes owed considerably. But spouting off about the find allows the leaches in gub'ment to enforce all sorts of arcane rules to plunder the wealth for the public slush fund err I mean coffers.
They need a lawyer and I hope they have one.
They don't owe any taxes if the Treasury is going to claim ownership. In fact, they want to pay taxes, because this would establish their undisputed ownership of the coins.
Money spent on lawyers to establish their "undisputed ownership" is tax-deductible. Essentially uncle is going to pay about 50% of their legal fees to establish that the coins belong to them and not uncle...
That’s what happens when you open your yap, before gathering information.
What do you expect from Californikans?
Those who denounce the IRS, Obama or Nixon as if this was some sort of recent initiative are demonstrating their ignorance of history and the law.
Under English Common Law, going back to before the Norman Conquest, treasure trove belonged to the monarch.
All of it.
There were remarkably stiff penalties for hiding or attempting to hide it from him.
Since the state government is the sovereign, under common law principles the entire treasure trove would belong to the state.
However, most states have decided that the finder of treasure owns it, although a few have gone with the owner of the land, the state, the county or the township. Or it may split it up among some of these entities.
A person could pick up a gas cylinder for welding at Home depot for about ten bucks and a brass nozzle for another $15 or so, then home melt the gold in any metal container that has a higher melt temperature than gold.
Not recommended in this case because of the rarity value of the coins, but it would be a piece of cake to melt gold without anyone knowing about it.
Melting the coins diminishes the value no les than 100 times. Better to keep the coins and sell them abroad one at a time
Surprise!
Not.
Buying votes ain’t cheap.
“Nice life you got there, taxpeasant. Be a shame if something happened to it...”
the story may
have been created..... created.....
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