IRS says no to Herbstreit
Herbstreit let his local fire department burn down his house and use it for practice. He took a large tax deduction which he intended to put towards the cost of building a new house. The IRS audited Herbie, rejected the deduction and Herbstreit is now suing the IRS.
http://goingconcern.com/2009/07/irs-doesnt-care-for-kirk-herbs.php
Ha sucker, I do not think you should get a deduction for burning down a house for practice.
I'd say lending a house about to be torn down to a local fire department should be grounds for some form of deduction. Nothing in this world is free, and I'd say this service provided to a government institution should result in some form of payment. The $200k or so he got seems a bit much though, it should be a flat rate rather than basing it on the value of the house to be burned.
I'm no tax attorney (nor any other form of lawyer) but I wonder if the value of the deduction shouldn't be whatever the fire department would have paid to practice on something else. It's at least pretty obvious that he got some value out of it, it's probably not cheap to hire someone to knock your house down. I must admit it's a creative way to take your house down and help someone else at the same time.
He could have sold the house right? If he could have sold it, and instead donated it...it would be a pretty dick move on the irs's part, especially if it has been a common practice to offer a deduction for it. Even if he couldn't sell it, he deserves at least some amount of compensation for donating a house, at least a duffel bag or commemorative t-shirt.
I got the impression he was building a new house on the property and so it was going to be demolished anyway. Instead of paying to have it taken down he was, in essence, getting paid to have it taken down for him by the fire department. $200k seems like a large sum for allowing the fire department to burn down a building that was going to be destroyed anyway.
He probably wanted to tear down the house anyway (duh!!). The IRS is saying "No, we won't let you subsidize your new house with a tax deduction for its demolition." Herbie probably had to build the new house when the whole "poopsie" story broke.
I'm not stating that he shouldn't get a deduction, just that $200k seems over the top. The value of the deduction should be relative to the value the fire department gets out of it as those above had said. I somehow think that value isn't in the hundreds of thousands.
I heard he broke the news on ESPN that he would get that tax deduction. Wrong again Herbie, wrong again. - not good enough.
I'll root for a Buckeye before I'll root for the IRS.
There is nothing worse than a buckeye. Except for maybe a buckeye that works for the IRS.
Whatever happened to Big Ten solidarity? Q: If you were to discover that the IRS is actually the diabolical invention of a football coach who would you first suspect? A: Nick Saban.
I rest my case.
Big Ten solidarity? What?
Rooting for your conference is like boning your sister; you only do it if you're an inbred Southern hick.
I bet you're a joy to be around in January.
Absolutely. I get to see all of the teams from my conference lose. Those teams don't do anything for me, so why should I root for them?
Big Ten solidarity? It's not like I was on the edge of my seat during the Georgia-MSu and Texas-OSU games rooting for the big ten.
It was not intended to be a serious argument.
I'm behind any team from the Big Ten, unless it's those fuckin' geauxfurs.
that Les Miles was in line to purchase Kirk Herstreit's house if he did not burn it down. Also planning to live in the same neighborhood was Jon Tenuta, who was interested in working with Miles in the Department of Defense.
Miles eventually turned down Herbstreit's offer by saying "I'm staying in Louisiana and will live in my damn strong house here."
They should allow the deduction, but he should be forced to rebuild the exact same house.
"the real question is whether Lee Corso is getting to the age where he’s burning down houses just because he’s totally gone senile."
I am sure there are a few houses that are condemmed or foreclosed that should get practiced on first...
I'm not entirely convinced that this was not in fact the case with Herbie's house. Foreclosed and condemned. I believe this is quite common in Buckeye circles. Not sayin', just sayin'. I kid, I kid. I know ESPN is watching the internet like a hawk right now and wish to avoid any appearance of impropriety.
For one, I imagine Herbie lives in one of the many McMansion filled suburbs of Columbus... so is it reasonable to expect his local fire department to have many condemned or foreclosed homes to practice on? And would a small, old brick and mortar house really be good practice for a fire department who would routinely need to enter bigger, newer houses?
Thousands of Spartan fans will now attempt to receive deductions for torched couches.
Homer Simpson booed them.
"Oh boo yourself" that IRS man told Homer. Classic.
This is just a weird story all around. Does he have another house to live in now?