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Insult or not, destroying it is irrelevant to any tax liability it might have triggered upon inheritance; it still came into their that way. If you inherited a
by rosser 7y ago
Insult or not, destroying it is irrelevant to any tax liability it might have triggered upon inheritance; it still came into their that way. If you inherited a Picasso, you'd still owe tax on it, whether you hung it, or tossed it in a fire.
- koliber 7y agoCan someone clarify something? A person owns things. When they die, the legal person ceases to exist. The things they owned are now owned by a new legal entity called "the estate." Inheriting something is the formal act of transferring ownership from the estate to the people who end up inheriting things. If something is in the ownership of the estate and it gets destroyed, stolen, or lost, how will it be treated for tax purposes at the time of settling of the estate?
- gizmo686 7y agoThe benificiaries of an estate are not taxed; the estate is. So the estate would likely still owe taxes.
- magduf 7y agoOk, so what happens if the estate consists solely of a single piece of art? The art is worth zero, no one wants to buy it, but the heir would like to have it for sentimental reasons, but the IRS says it's worth $100M. The estate has no money to pay this tax bill. Now what happens? The IRS gets stuck with a piece of worthless art? Is there some warehouse somewhere with a bunch of old crap seized this way that the IRS can't get rid of?