Person who caught Jeter's ball may have to pay taxes!?!

[Adam West]

This is ridiculous. Do something nice and give the ball back, the Yankees respond to the kindness and now he may owe $14,000 in taxes? Give me a break.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/12/ny...000th-hit.html

[Hector]

That's what he gets for being an idiot and not keeping that ball...




It is unbelievable though.

[Nostalgiabuff]

a perfect example of how the "man" always keeps you down. as great as the USA is,he goverment will always screw us in the end. they are all a bunch of self serving scumbags

[ScottA]

I read Topps is making a baseball card of him and paying off $50,000 of his sudent loan.

[SeattleEd]

a perfect example of how the "man" always keeps you down. as great as the USA is,he goverment will always screw us in the end. they are all a bunch of self serving scumbags

That and we need to pay back China some how. For now it's the USA*Made In China

[Zemo]

Miller and a sporting goods store are paying the taxes for him and like Scott said, someone is paying off his 100,000k in student loans.

[Mikey]

It does make the gov look really bad ...

Like they're literally evil

[SeattleEd]

It does make the gov look really bad ...

Like they're literally evil

True but it's good to see private companies stepping up and helping him out. Lucky guy!
By catching a ball and returning it, he gets a fresh start with his life. Debt Free! How awesome is that!! Only in the USA!

[Hector]

Jeter should be the one bailing out that dude...so much for Jeter being just as "honorable" as the guy who gave him the baseball...lol.

[starsky]

they can always declare it as a "gift" to him and hope the irs goes easy on him.

[Adam West]

The problem is that annual gift limitation is $10,000. I did hear that companies were going to step up and pay income taxes on it if necessary. It's just sad that something like this turns into a taxable event. I could see if he sold the ball for cash but he didn't and I believe Jeter is going to donate the baseball to Hall of Fame. Ironically, the IRS won't comment on whether or not this is a taxable event or not. I guess he will have to take a position when he completes his income taxes and the IRS will decide whether or not they want to take him to court over it. That's where the costs could go through the roof...not even an income tax issue but turning this into a court case that will set a precedent on this type of issue going forward. Fun how our tax system works at times.

[livnxxxl]

That really sucks about the taxes. The whole tax thing just keeps getting more and more out of control all of the time.

This certainly makes one think twice about catching and keeping a ball in the future.

I can just see it now - Here you take it! No you take it! It's yours! No it is all yours I insist. The people in the stands would be jugglying it around like it is a hot potato or a grenade.

[Adam West]

Baseball is the only professional sport that I know where you can keep a ball if it is hit into the stands. Football, Soccer, or Basketball forget about it....they want and expect the ball to be returned. We have never come close to catching a baseball in MLB but I remember taking my oldest son (now 16) to a minor league game years ago and he was hell bent on catching a foul ball which would be lucky. We had one come near us but was caught a few rows above us. I noticed a couple of batters fouling the balls and it was flying out of the small stadium. I suggested we leave the game a little early and see if a ball happened to land in the parking lot. To our surprise, we found 3 or 4 baseballs just sitting in the grass where they were hit out of the park and I distinctly remember my son feeling like he hit the lottery..we still have all of them and what a great memory from that day. It is sad to hear that catching a ball means $$$$$ but even worse that the IRS will tax you if you happen to catch a special ball and decide to sell it or trade it.

[starsky]

maybe jeter will secretly help him.

[Hector]

Baseball is the only professional sport that I know where you can keep a ball if it is hit into the stands. Football, Soccer, or Basketball forget about it....they want and expect the ball to be returned.

Baseballs are much cheaper at the local sporting goods stores...