Aschenputtel aus der Sicht der US-Finanzbehörde erzählt
Zusammenfassung
Once upon a fiscal year, in a kingdom ruled by tax law and filled with cash flows and non-cash transactions, there lived an industrious young woman named Cinderella. She was a full-time, non-paid domestic servant in the employ of her stepmother, a dubious woman of unchecked wealth with two spendthrift daughters, Anastasia and Drizella.
Stepmother, exploiting tax loopholes, filed Cinderella as an independent contractor, rather than a W-2 employee, avoiding paying her fair wages or taxes on her labor. A grim case of worker misclassification! In addition, this saved her from dealing with pesky employer-side payroll taxes.
Now, the King’s son, Prince Charming, announced a grand ball, an event which qualified as a royal expenditure, thus non-taxable, provided it contributed to kingdom’s welfare. This extravagant affair, however, was primarily a matchmaking attempt for Prince Charming, causing us at the IRS to raise our eyebrows.
Now, Cinderella, sans a penny to her name, was aided by a Fairy Godmother, whose magic, as it were, is an untaxable event. However, a delicate pumpkin-turned-carriage and tiny mice transformed into coachmen… such assets! Yet, no change was reported on Cinderella’s 1040 form.
At the ball, Prince Charming was smitten with Cinderella, who escaped before the stroke of midnight, leaving a glass slipper. The Prince, used the royal coffers to launch a kingdom-wide search for the girl whose foot fit the shoe - a thinly veiled personal expense masked as a public cost.
Upon finding Cinderella, Prince Charming proposed. Now, marriage has its tax benefits, but Cinderella was brought into an entirely new tax bracket, becoming liable for the Alternative Minimum Tax and increasing her reportable income significantly. However, as she was lifted from poverty, she seemed to have no qualms about this sudden change.
The stepsisters and stepmother were exposed for their tax fraud and made to pay back taxes on Cinderella’s unreported income. The revenue generated went towards providing financial relief to other exploited workers in the kingdom.
In the end, Cinderella and Prince Charming hired a competent tax advisor to help navigate the tricky tax waters of royalty. As for the Fairy Godmother, well, magic isn’t currently taxable… but we’re working on it.