Is An Autograph a Gift?
Joel Schoenmeyer over at Death and Taxes has published an interesting post that asks some interesting questions about the tax implications of celebrity autographs and the like. Joel's post raises slightly different issues than my recent post about the possible tax implications of, for example, catching Barry Bonds' 756th home run ball, but the questions are somewhat related and no less interesting. Last weekend a friend of mine was lucky enough to attend Cal Ripken's induction into the baseball Hall of Fame, and was even more lucky to get Cal's autograph. Suppose my friend had had Cal sign a cap or jersey that Lou Gehrig, whose record for consecutive games played Ripken broke, had actually worn. Would that autograph add value to the memorabilia in excess of the $12,000.00 annual gift tax exclusion? Probably. Would the IRS experience a black eye bigger than what it suffered after the McGwire home run ball fiasco discussed in my earlier post? Absolutely. Are we likely to ever see the day when the IRS treats celebrity autographs as taxable gifts? Not very.
