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Fan Who Caught Historic Aaron Judge Homer May Face 6-Figure Tax Bill

Fan Who Caught Historic Aaron Judge Homer May Face 6-Figure Tax Bill

Cory Youmans, the fan who caught Aaron Judge's historic home run ball on Tuesday, October 4, may now be facing a six-figure tax bill.

Judge, an outfielder for the storied New York Yankees franchise, hit his 62nd homer of the season at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. Judge broke a Major League Baseball record long held by Roger Maris, another legendary Yankee who hit 61 home runs during the 1961 season. 

Baseball fan Youmans is relatively well-known in his own right. The Fisher Investments Vice President is married to Bri Amaranthus, current sports reporter and former The Bachelor contestant.

Now that Youmans has the historic baseball in his possession, he has a huge decision to make. Fox Business reported on the situation, noting that the IRS declined to comment when their team reached out.

To date, the tax agency has never publicly stated whether or not a ball becomes taxable upon leaving a stadium, or upon being sold for profit. 

Tax experts disagree on the topic, with some pointing to the 1969 Cesarini vs. United States case in which a federal judge ruled that $4,467 hidden inside of a piano could be considered taxable income. 

H&R Block chief tax officer Kathy Pickering spoke to Fox Business, however, and she disagrees with this take. Pickering said:

"In most cases, a fan who simply holds onto a home run ball from a record-setting game or player's 600th home run (for example) typically won't owe taxes as long as they hold onto the ball."

If the ball is sold for its estimated value of $2 million, though, Youmans and his wife will almost certainly find themselves in the 37% tax bracket, which would mean a six-figure tax bill. 

Pickering explained how capital gains tax would come into play if the couple should decide to sell:

"In that case, the capital gains tax of 28% will apply to the ball if it's held for more than one year. If the holder keeps the ball for less than one year, ordinary income rates apply to the sale."

Standard capital gains rates are 0%, 15%, and 20% depending on annual income.

Should Youmans ultimately return the ball to Judge or the Yankees club, he will not owe tax. This precedent was set when former St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Mark McGwire tied Maris's 61-home run record in 1998. 

Mike Davidson, the fan who caught the ball, opted to return the ball to McGwire.

After a bit of a snafu, the IRS ultimately issued an official release stating that no tax was due. 

At this time, Youmans has not publicly stated what he plans to do with Judge's home run ball.

Need help understanding taxes and your sports memorabilia collection? Match with an expert tax professional in your area today.

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Rebekah Barton

Rebekah Barton

Rebekah's search engine optimization career began completely by accident as a college student. Over the course of her career so far, she has "grown up" with the SEO industry, from writing content while juggling classes to managing her own teams of writers and overseeing SEO strategy in subsequent roles. She is excited to bring her passion for high-quality content to CountingWorks, Inc.

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