I believe the IRS announced several years ago that they were not going to treat airline frequent flyer rewards as income. So i wonder what they think about hotel stay rewards, etc.
The tax on $310k added on top of his income is going to be a big number.
If he got 1099 forms for all that rewards money his case might be a little more difficult.
Cue “Tax Man” by the Beatles.
“George has been very vocal throughout his life about his inspiration for “Taxman.” “I had discovered I was paying a huge amount of money to the taxman,” he once explained in interview. “You are so happy that you’ve finally started earning money – and then you find out about tax. In those days we paid nineteen shillings and sixpence out of every pound (there were twenty shillings in the pound), and with supertax and surtax and tax-tax it was ridiculous – a heavy penalty to pay for making money…It was, and still is, typical. Why should this be so? Are we being punished for something we have forgotten to do?...That was the big turn-off for Britain. Anybody who ever made any money moved to America or somewhere else.”
http://www.beatlesebooks.com/taxman
“I believe the IRS announced several years ago that they were not going to treat airline frequent flyer rewards as income. “
On my experience, I dont think so. I fly into Vancouver due to my job in the biz more than a few times every year, and racked up the miles quick for the rewards. so far, the taxman hasnt contacted me in 10 years LOL