I admire all the bicycle riders who choose NOT to wear helmets.

These people must be as tough as concrete. Or they want to prove how incredible the ER department is. And they are amazing. So as always I thought about what possible tax issues might be involved.

Well, if the person hits his head and is severely injured, the IRS will waive a late filing and possibly late payment penalty!

If sadly, due to severe injury he leaves his wife prematurely, she can collect his survivor social security benefits if higher than hers.

If he has a 401k 403b 457 IRA SEP or Simple the good news it can pass to wife and she is NOT forced to take it over 10 years.

If you donate your remains to the NC medical school (as I have,) you get to help medical science and, possibly, if you donate your organs, you may live on in some young person needing an organ other than your brain which is likely no longer the viable genius level it was. While there is no tax deduction for this, you eliminate the cost of cremation and or burial. The savings is about $12,000 and, as you can’t deduct the funeral, you save your family taxable income of about $15,500. So, even in the here after, you are protecting your family from IRS and NCDOR. A big yeeha to you on that one.

And one more blessing of NOT WEARING A HELMET, even if your wife sells the home that you bought less than 2 years ago, there will likely be NO TAX. Half will get a NEW cost, the value at the date of your UNFORESEEN incident. The other half will get an exclusion of $20,000+ for each month you owned the property if sold before the end of the year. So once again you can rest in peace knowing that your family will NOT be taxed on the sale in this situation. And she gets to file Jointly for the year of death and your signature on the return is not required.

If you go into a coma and survive into the next year, she gets to file jointly in both years – saving a considerable amount of tax. So if we make it to Xmas. And you are on life support and the doctor tells you there is no hope and you have Medicare or other insurance. Don t pull the plug and in fact have a battery back up. Just in case the cleaning dept. come in swirling a mop and knocks the cord out of the wall! And while you are keeping your loved one alive hoping for a miracle, put all the assets in his name. When you pull the plug on Jan 2., all of those assets get a NEW COST date of death value. Anything you sell the next day there will be NO TAXABLE GAIN.

I know, I know, you are thinking how do I know it’s the guy not wearing a helmet. Well all of us guys tend to go around in a testosterone fog most of our lives. And women, usually enjoy having their brains functional so they can guide us through life. So go out there and enjoy your next ride and rest assured as you rest in peace that no matter what happens you won t have to leave your family to be unduly taxed.