There’s always a price for fame. The now famous fan who caught Derek Jeter’s 3,000 hit home run ball is probably wishing he hadn’t chose the door for fame rather than riches now.
According to the New York Daily News, Lopez could be taxed anywhere between $5k and $13k for the gifts the Yankees gave him after the game, including season tickets to the rest of the games and autographed memorabilia. The IRS could tax the gifts as income, which would force Lopez to pay a pretty hefty amount.
“He’s a great guy,” says Terry Ganer, a die-hard Yankees fan and accountant for Ganer Grossbach & Ganer in midtown. “But I’m pretty sure the tax man, unfortunately, is not a Yankee fan and will not look at this so sympathetically.”
Lopez claims he would pay the taxes on the gifts if he had to, but as a recent college graduate, I’m sure he’s looking for a loophole in the system to avoid paying Uncle Sam.
“Worse comes to worse, I’ll have to pay the taxes,” Lopez said in an interview with the Daily News. “I’m not going to return the seats. I have a lot of family and friends who will help me out if need be. The IRS has a job to do, so I’m not going to hold it against them, but it would be cool if they helped me out a little on this.”
We don’t know if he was referring to the Yankees helping him out with the taxes or the IRS giving him a break from the taxes, but accountants claim the IRS will be knocking at his door soon.
The gifts given to Lopez from the Yankees have an estimated worth of up to $80k, but none of them include the cash to pay for a possible tax from the IRS.
On top of all of this, it was discovered that Christian Lopez has over $100k in student loan debt. Sounds like this guy made the biggest mistake of his life.