here's a puzzle for you

Like if a store has a "buy 1, get another free" sale? This store did, he just didn't see the ad (possibly because they never placed it).

Seth

No, he contracted for two at the regular price. The store gave him a gift of the other two, when he advised them of the overshipment and they said "you now have two extras for free". Never mind the pirate treasure, that doesn't fit. A gift does.

Not anything alike. Well, unless a father giving his son a gift of $10,000 is the same as the son robbing the father of $10,000. The result is the same, but the legal and tax effects are quite different.

Stu

I agree with you up to the point that you determine that it's a gift. I'll guarantee you that the seller will be deducting the cost from its taxes as a business expense. So like the cars given away by Oprah, they're not gifts.

Stu

Of course, treasure trove does not fit. It certainly was not a gift. It's more like you came home to find your dirt driveway had been replaced with patterned concrete driveway due to a misread address. You owe nothing, but it adds to your basis.

Dick

Are you saying the tax effect would be the same if he had bought four and stolen another four?

Stu

How much does it add to your basis?

Dan Lanciani ddl@danlan.*com

What do you mean, "adds to your basis"? Surely your basis didn't change, your _value_ did.

Seth

Moderator: I stand corrected.

No; the stolen four are income (if the store doesn't claim them back).

But here the other four were a "free" bonus for buying the first four. To me, that means they share the basis.

Seth

How about the other side of the coin?

My neighbor ordered and received some very large and expensive windows from who else - Home Depot. A few days after the shipment arrived, a second duplicate shipment arrived. That was months ago. All attempts to return the windows to either Home Depot or the manufacture has been met with indifference. Home Depot has told him flat out that it does *not* want the windows and it is the manufactures problem. The manufacture says that it is Home Depot's problem and Home Depot has paid for the windows.

The problem? These large windows are taking up a good deal of the floor space in his garage. He hasn't even been able to give them away as they are built for a specific application. He doesn't want to store the windows forever free of charge and he doesn't want to have to pay to have them hauled away (the local landfill will charge an arm and a leg to dispose of these large windows).

So here is a case when a double delivery is actually a liability and not an asset and will probably end up costing my neighbor a fair amount of time and money before it is over.

But in the chairs case, the store sent the extra chairs, and told him they were his. How is that not an unadvertised "buy 1 get 1 free" sale? Does it differ in any way from the "have some extra, you're a good customer" example? Why? Seth

I haven't even read to the end of the thread and already I'm glad I posted this one. You see, I did that right before I went away for two weeks on the Big Boat to Alaska. anyway, after all, the IRS wouldn't care, because as we all know, the 8 chairs are F U N G I B L E! (grin) Oh man, this was good.

And it happened to me.

now, what am I offered for four chairs?

ChEAr$, Harlan

But Seth, I didna buy the extra four chairs. they were a gift.

ChEAr$, Harlan

Did I mention that Home Depot had the chair drop shipped from manufacturer?

That was the foul up, the manufacturer shipped four "units" (2 to a box) instead of four chairs. Now it gets interesting in that IF HD realizes that they're about to pay the manufacturer for 8 chairs, what happens? As Lou Costello said, 'I don't KNOW, and I don't care!" grin

ChEAr$, Harlan

Great! here is the identical same case.

I still have not been contacted by Home Depot requestion return of the chairs, nor by the manufacturer. Let them fight it out. Meanwhile, what am I bid?

ChEAr$, Harlan

Moderator: Sight unseen?