I stopped thinking about turkey long enough yesterday to contemplate other important issues, and Oprah Winfrey‘s latest giveaway this week to the 300 people in her audience — a 2012 VW Beetle, which hasn’t even been introduced or priced yet, a $1,000 Nordstrom gift certificate, an iPad and a $2,000 piece of jewelry — has me fascinated.
Like what are the tax consequences of the giveaway.
All Oprah’s people will say is that the show “makes a good faith estimate of the tax due for each audience member and pays this on their behalf.”
I wondered if any audience member would be on the hook for any taxes so I asked Alan J. Strauss, a New York City tax lawyer and certified public accountant who is an expert on IRS rulings, for help.
First off, it’s clear that Oprah does not consider the cars and the rest of the giveaway to be actual gifts from her to the audience. In other words, the money for this stuff isn’t coming out of her pocket.
If these were straight gifts, says Strauss, the audience wouldn’t owe tax on any of the goods. And Oprah might have to fork over tax for any amount over $13,000 per person — the IRS’s annual limit for gifts.
So, it will probably come as no surprise that this was a promotion, taxable event — a business transaction — between Oprah’s show and the companies that provided the loot.
That’s a much more complicated situation. For one thing, there are 300 recipients, who each pay taxes at different rates.
And the audience members won’t really know what the gifts are worth until the “fair market value” — the IRS’s term — of the Volkswagen is determined.
That’s not the same as the manufacturer’s suggested retail price.
In fact, because this particular Volkswagen model hasn’t been introduced yet, once Oprah turns over the cars, the fair value could exceed the selling price that the manufacturer is suggesting.
When something is scarce, as you probably already know, the price can climb.
Strauss says it’s Oprah’s obligation to withhold tax at a 20 percent rate. But the payment of that 20 percent tax by Oprah also becomes a taxable event for audience members. And, Strauss says, they’ll have to come up with the cash to cover that amount, unless Oprah again rides to the rescue.
Some audience members might find out later that they are in the 35 percent tax bracket.
In fact, Oprah’s gifts alone could put some people into higher tax brackets. And, remember, some may not even want a car or an iPad. If that happens, these higher-tax bracket audience members will have to track down Oprah’s accountants — in 2012, when taxes are due on the 2011-delivery cars — for the rest of what is owed to the IRS.
The hell with it, you say, just sell the car!
Clearly, the audience will come out ahead no matter what happens. But by selling their VWs, they’d be able to pocket the cash and continue to drive whatever beat-up wreck that brought them to the show.
But if an audience member sold the VW for more than Oprah’s accountants told the IRS it was worth when they paid the estimated tax, there could be even more tax due.
Let’s put some numbers on this.
The older model VW Bugs — as they are called — are priced new at around $26,000. Let’s say Oprah’s people, for simplicity’s sake, claim the fair market value of the new model they gave away is really $20,000 — the amount you’d pay after telling a sob story to the dealer.
A 20 percent tax on that would be $4,000 — which has already been paid by Oprah to the IRS.
But let’s say an audience member takes possession of the VW and, without even running it for a mile, sells it for $25,000. (Remember, this car has a storied past and perhaps Oprah’s lipstick mark on the dash.)
That extra $5,000 obtained for the car is income to the recipient. And tax would have to be paid on that extra amount.
Now, let’s say Oprah’s people are nice enough to pick up the tax on your profit — even though you were an ingrate and didn’t keep the car.
The audience member who made that extra $5,000 would owe tax on the amount of extra tax picked up by Oprah’s people.
So, the ungrate ful audience member would owe tax on the tax paid, after enough tax wasn’t put up by Oprah’s people in the first place.
OK, you get the idea. It isn’t easy to give stuff away.