AOPA Plane Giveaway and Taxes

"Robert M. Gary" wrote:

I then sell it to my corp, receive a check from my
corp and pay the tax. I guess I don't see the difference. If you are
trying to sell it to your corp for less than FMV then I believe the IRS
provides jail terms for such fancy book work designed to avoid paying
tax.

Robert, the goal here is not to avoid the income tax and tread illegal
waters as you deduced, but rather to legally use the tools of the tax code
to create an expense (accelerated depreciation) large enough to offset most
of the income tax due on the winnings.

Again, the big picture goal is to significantly reduce the size of the
check that the winner has to send to the IRS on April 15th of the following
year.

Of course, come the date of the sale of aircraft some time in the future,
any accelerated depreciation will be recaptured by the IRS in the form of a
capital gains tax, but this is only a straight 20% tax versus an individual
income tax bracket of normally a 32% to 40% tax (depending on one's taxable
income).

--
Peter