Posted on 08/15/2016 12:30:42 PM PDT by Kaslin
If you're like me, you love the Olympics. You especially love the Olympics when Team USA is wracking up bragging rights and this time around, they're winning big.
Unfortunately, years of dedication to mastering a sport and taking home Olympic medals is expensive. Why? Team USA athletes who win medals get slapped with giant tax bills as soon as they arrive home from Rio.
America's Olympic medalists must pay state and federal taxes on the prize money they get for winning. The U.S. Olympic Committee awards $25,000 for gold medals, $15,000 for silver and $10,000 for bronze.
That's not all. Olympians also have to pay tax on the value of the medals themselves.
Bummer.
Think this is unfair? Ironically, so does tax-hike supporting Senator Chuck Schumer.
H/T Larry O'Connor
You didn’t win that!
No pity here. It’s a business. Use Schedule C ... they took 4 years training - no reason they can’t spread the winnings across the four years earnings (if much).
Why is it unfair? I win Purchase orders all the time and get taxed for it.
All prizes are taxable, why should Olympic medals be any different?
Good grief! What’s Phelps gonna owe?
What’s the difference get money form winning the gold or playoff money for B-ball of super bowl. The whole tax code sucks. Maybe if someone is poor then some one cans step up or change the law, but that’s life. Welcome home champs, sign this form.
———— Screaming for help in Taxifornia
Play stupid games, get stupid prizes. :-)
They are the 0.0001 of this planet’s carbon units. If they play their cards right they can cash in on ads and sponsorships. I get the libertarian taxation angle, but it’s tough to feel sorry for them.
Getting taxed on prize money is normal. Our Federal and State tax forms have lines for that.
I don’t know about taxes on the values of Olympic medals, which I’m sure that the athletes do not intend to sell-—unless forced to by the taxman. PHOOEY!!!!
A good measure less than he'll bring home. I wonder if he is going to bring it home in foreign currencies or just stop in the Caymans and open an account.
Probably quite a bit. He has a total 23 gold medals. I believe he won 5 of them in Rio. He also won a silver medal there
The most ridiculous thing ever. I wonder which congress passed that dumb law. I would not fall over to find out it was boner.
can you say millions in endorsements?
The absolutely last thing we want to do is create special classes of sympathetic people who don’t have to pay tax. First it will be Olympians. Then it will be teachers or fire fighters. Then it will be other government employees or social workers. Everyone should pay tax. It should be a low rate and it should be fair, but everyone should pay it.
Hillary wants to tax inheritance 100 percent (at least in Trump's case if he dies). If Hillary gets her way, an Olympian can't pass on their medals to their family after death - the government would take them.
“Use Schedule C .”
Yup. expenses are deductible and from what i read about Phelps, he chows down on 5 pizzas every afternoon during training to burn calories. If only he kept those receipts..
So what is the value of an Olympic medal, in monetary terms? In terms of materials it’s nearly worthless - base metals with plating. You can’t buy one new, as far as I know. Cost to manufacture? I don’t know, but probably can’t be more than a few hundred bucks, even if made in the first world by a skilled metal worker.
That's a great point. They should be able to write off every expense associated with their training over the past 4 years. I'd argue that, with the exception of their primary residence, just about every dollar spent could be attributable to their training. Food, communications, coaches, gym time, pool time, transportation, hotel accommodations, etc. They may not be able to deduct certain entertainment expenses like booze, pot and Disney movies. But otherwise, I bet the government owes them money if they play the game right. They need to spend the money on a good tax attorney, which will also be tax deductible. LOL!
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