Let’s say you were a Bell technician who also happened to love gambling. Would you be able to claim your losses at the casino as a business expense? Well, no. Obviously. But try telling that to the Canadian Guiseppe Tarascio who loves playing the horses, casinos and lotteries. He describes gambling as his “calling” and his “business”. Except that’s just the point. It’s not his business. In 1999, Tarascio lost $56K in gambling, in 2000 he lost $70K and in 2001, he lost $63,800. When he tried to file his tax return declaring his losses as ‘business expenses’ in 2002 and 2003, he was turned down, and he decided to take the case to court. Surprise surprise – the judge requested his appeal and even ordered him to pay $1,000 in court fees. Now, perhaps someone should tell Mr. Tarascio that after so many losses, year after year, maybe he should try investing in another type of “business.”
A man about to have a heart transplant was offered the choice of either a 26 year-old marathon runner’s heart or the heart of a 62 year-old IRS agent. He picked the agent’s heart because he said it had never been used.
And:
Called in for an audit, Mr. Briggs was confronted by a surly IRS agent. “It says here, Mr. Briggs, that you are a bachelor; yet you claim a dependent son. Surely this must be a mistake.” Looking him straight in the eye, Mr. Briggs replied, “Yup, it surely was.”
