Reports: Yankees Superfan Christian Lopez Faces Massive IRS Tax Bill For Exchanging Derek Jeter’s 3,000 Ball For Tickets, Autographed Items

Report: For Exchanging Derek Jeter’s 3,000 Ball, 14K Tax Bill Awaits Yankees Fan Christian Lopez

July 12, 2011 12:38 PM

Yankees fan Christian Lopez poses with Derek Jeter after catching a home run, the was 3000th hit of Jeter’s career at Yankee Stadium on July 9, 2011. (credit: Nick Laham/Getty Images)

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NEW YORK (WFAN / WCBS 880) – The debate raged all weekend long and spilled over into Monday: if you were Christian Lopez, would you have given back Derek Jeter’s 3,000th hit ball?

WCBS 880′s Paul Murnane On The Story

The results were mixed, though now it seems Lopez will have to pay a hefty tax on the bounty he received from the Yankees in exchange for the prized piece of memorabilia.

According to the New York Daily News, Lopez, who admitted he owes more than $100,000 in student loan debt, may have to pony up between $5,000 and $13,000 to the IRS.

The New York Times calculated the superfan’s tax bill — for the Jeter autographed bats, balls and jerseys, four front-row seats on Sunday and four Champions Suite tickets for the remainder of the season — at around $14,000.

“Worse comes to worse, I’ll have to pay the taxes,” Lopez told the New York 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.”

Lopez gave up his chance at selling the ball, valued by Steiner Sports at $250,000 on the open market. Now the 23-year-old Verizon employee wouldn’t mind a little help — maybe from the Yankees?

“The IRS has a job to do, so I’m not going to hold it against them,” he told the Daily News, “but it would be cool if they helped me out a little on this.”

If the Bombers turn a blind eye, Lopez will surely be dreading tax day.

As University of Cincinnati tax professor Paul Caron told the Times, “Pretty clearly he’s going to have to report as income the value of all the stuff he got for the ball.”

Should the Yankees give Lopez a hand with his tax bill? Sound off in the comments below…

Lynn

Personally I would have kept the ball and sold it for the $250K, but I can understand why he did it. He thought he was doing it to be nice to Jeter hopefully they help him pay off the taxes he will owe now for his kindness.
Old Yankee

No two ways about it. Jeter is the one standing to gain the most out of this deal. The Yankees don’t owe him a thing beyond what they are paying him, have paid him and will pay him in salary.

Indeed, Jeter is the one who should be paying the freight on this deal and helping out the fan with the tax bill. Otherwise, Jeter should give the ball back to the guy who caught it and he can sell it and pay the taxes.
Jason

What about the “kindness and unselfishness” of the IRS, folks? They’re the real problem, not Lopez, Jeter, or the Yanks- and the overwhelming number of people on this thread that they deserve no criticism on here. Pathetic!

LG

Tax money is part of the revenue collected for the communities from the entertainment industry. The community must endure the headaches of having publicly attended events in its neighborhood. Members of the IRS aren’t running off to take elaborate vacations with that money. And the Yankees tickets are not a necessity of life–therefore, they are taxed.

The real issue is not with the IRS…it is that the Yankees gave him the tickets for compensation for the ball, but they could not pay the taxes for them. I would imagine the organization is not allowed to pay the taxes. If so, that’s the part of the law that needs to be examined. However, I could see someone taking advantage of the system with a change in protocol. This seems to be a catch-22 situation. I hope the team can give the guy some help, and nobody says a word about it so there are no legal issues. Surely there are between 5,000 and 13,000 people working in the Yankees organization who could take up a collection at $1 each.

Krh

Personally, I think it’s a double edged sword – I’d be willing to bet that all you fools calling him a meat head and other ridiculous and immature things would be chastising him had he taken the ball for himself. It’s not such an easy decision when you have millions of people expecting you to do the right thing, so give the guy a break – if Derek Jeter is the guy I think he is, I’m CERTAIN that he’ll help this kid out.
GRobert Waldman

Get the ball officially appraised and Christian can declare that value minus the value of the memorabilia and tickets as a NET LOSS on his Income Taxes (federal, state and city). He only has to worry about any Gift Tax on the ball In the end, he may owe little or nothing.
colin

I agree the kid is a meat head and should be forced to pay the taxes on the ball.
ham07

I have to commute 1 hr each way tomorrow to make a living for my two young kids. The moron gives away financial stability for some trinkets. What a coperate tool. Believe me Jeter and the Yankees aren’t having to tighten their belts.
SoulSoldSeparately

Jeter should fork up the money himself. Jeter made what, $189MM over the past 10 years? Unless he’s worse than Mike Tyson at managing his money, Jeter shoulld be able to hand over $14k without even realizing it’s gone
Jen

Its only taxable if its a PRIZE not a GIFT. This is not a prize because it was not advertised as such. A prize would need to be written with rules and clearly stated before it was given out. This is a gift in return for a gesture. There should be NO TAX.
Clark Kentt

LMAO….serves him right for being an idiot. His dad should have smack him besides his head. $100K in student loans and you work at Verizon, jeez…That there tells us you aren’t too keen. What degree were you going for that has you at Verizon? Your decision to return the ball tells us you aren’t too smart. What are all the acolades you received “for doing the right thing” doing for you now? nothing, you need to get what you can when given the opportunity. You let yours go! You easilly could have pushed the Yanks and Jeter to pay $1mill, worse case hold off, put the ball in a safety deposit box and when he gets into the hall of fame you cash in. Either way, you make bank. Plus, you should have demand the Yankees for nosebleed, behind dugout and suite season tickets for LIFE. The Yankees will pay anything to have that ball.
Bell Toller

Why the hell do the Yankees have to pay the tax bill on this?
eddie

Sean T hit the nail on the head, famous saying, Nice guys finish last comes to mind, the kid was holding a lotto ticket in his hand in a form of a ball, and gave it away for what amounts to pennies for the true worth of the ball.

Kid should seriously sit down with some attorney and see if he has a chance at getting that ball back.
Spanky

End the IRS!!! Problem solved.
Sean T

The kid is a typical obese stupid meathead and deserves what he gets. Giving the ball back is a disgrace. A quarter of a million dollars is a house, it’s your kids’ education. And you give it away? Pathetic. There are teachers and hospital workers in this country who make 30,000 a year and you have a chance at 250K minimum and you don’t cash it in? The arrogance and utter idiocy of this man to spit in fortune’s face the way he did makes me sick. He should be forced to have a vasectomy to make sure he doesn’t spread his moronic genes.
smitty

Whether Lopez, the Yankees or Derek settle the tax issue is not the issue here. It’s just another way for this crazy Government of ours to find yet another way to tax us out of existence and get into our private lives any which way they can.
Brian

Hopefully if a clever accountant can’t get the tax bill eliminated then either the Yankee’s organization or Jeter should take care of this great fan of baseball. He is more than a gentleman to give the ball back to Derek. Most people would have held out for the big pay day.
This guy deserves all the help he can get.