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FACT BRIEF

Does the IRS say people who steal property must report that in their tax returns?

By Christiana Dillard
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YES

According to Internal Revenue Service Publication 17, you should report stolen property as income.

An IRS spokesperson says the stolen property summary exists because there has not been a tax law passed by Congress to make such income tax-exempt. Therefore, stolen property is considered taxable income.

See a full discussion of this at Lead Stories
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
Internal Revenue Service Publication 17 (2021), Your Federal Income Tax - Other Income
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
Lead Stories
Lead Stories is a fact checking and debunking website at the intersection of big data and journalism that launched in 2015. It scouts for trending stories, images, videos and posts that contain false information in order to fact check them as quickly as possible. It actively monitors the fake-news ecosystem and doesn’t wait for reader tips or reports before getting started on a story.
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About fact briefs published on Gigafact
Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.