No good deed goes untaxed.
Christian Lopez owes the I.R.S an estimated $14,000 for Yankees tickets and other gifts he received for handing back Derek Jeter's 3,000th home run ball.
The 23-year-old fan might think differently about his goodwill gesture when his taxes come due.
The New York Times reports Lopez received four Champions Suite tickets for all the remaing Yankees home games and any postseason games, along with three bats, three balls, and two jerseys -- all autographed by Jeter.
The tickets to the 32 games left on the Yankees home schedule have a total face value of between $44,800 to $73,600.
"There's different ways the I.R.S. could try to characterize a ball caught by a fan in the stands," Andrew D. Appleby, a tax associate at the Sutherland Asbill & Brennan law firm in New York, told the Times. "But when the Yankees give him all those things, it's much more clear-cut that he owes taxes on what they give him."
If all the items are valued at $50,000, Appleby says, Lopez would have a tax burden of about $14,000.
A cell phone salesman, Lopez told reporters he owes more than $100,000 in student loans.
Will the Captain help this do-gooder out?
