Of course there’s a rule for that
This is the Internal Revenue Service’s Topic 357: Tax Information for Parents of Kidnapped Children:
You may claim a kidnapped child as your dependent if the following requirements are met:
1. The child must be presumed by law enforcement to have been kidnapped by someone who is not a member of your family or a member of the child’s family, and
2. The child had, for the taxable year in which the kidnapping occurred, the same principal place of abode as the taxpayer for more than one-half of the portion of such year before the date of kidnapping.
As always, situations may change:
This tax treatment will cease to apply as of your first tax year beginning after the calendar year in which either there is a determination that the child is dead or the child would have reached age 18, whichever occurs first.
No ruling in this particular section on ransom money, but I suspect that it’s considered taxable income to the kidnapper — which, you’d think, would make it deductible by the victim’s family, but somehow I doubt it.
(Via Andrew Ian Dodge.)
fillyjonk »
16 April 2009 · 12:15 pm
That’s….horrifying. Necessary, I suppose, but still horrifying to contemplate.
Adam »
16 April 2009 · 12:48 pm
Words fail me…
Terry »
16 April 2009 · 2:34 pm
I feel sick ….
Jeffro »
16 April 2009 · 10:16 pm
They don’t miss a lick.
Tatyana »
17 April 2009 · 6:23 am
They are bigger scam than the funeral home crooks.