Champions and the IRS

[The Arc]

A friend of mine recently asked our group about filing taxes for a super-hero in his campain. The characters work for an organization. However, several characters are only known by the public by the super-hero names. So he asked how could this hero file out his tax return by basically using an assumed name.

 

To make a long story short, it got me inspired. So I'm now working on an NPC named Stanely Ipwich, IRS Agent-Metahuman Division. I have his sheet done, just need to find time to do a background. So I'm curious has anyone else written an NPC or character from one of the non-Justice agencies, like Interior, or Treasury, or even the FDA?

[Thia Halmades]

Re: Champions and the IRS

 

Well, if the agency they work for is intelligent, then it already has a cover for them. i.e., you don't receive a paycheck for "Glass Dagger." You receive a paycheck for Jarome Nicholaria, who's a well paid research analyst operating in some off-site, highly secured location where no one will ever, ever find him. No one -- including the IRS -- is any wiser. The pay is commensurate with the work; maybe higher, maybe lower. Again a smart agency will avoid "normalizing" everything. Hazard Pay is marked as Over Time or "Additional Compensation" or "Profit Sharing." He can cash the check as Jarome, and file taxes as Jarome.

[Karmakaze]

Re: Champions and the IRS

 

So I'm curious has anyone else written an NPC or character from one of the non-Justice agencies' date=' like Interior, or Treasury, or even the FDA?[/quote']

 

I've used a recurring NPC from the EPA. He'd been pointed at the heroes' base by some of their enemies in hopes of either inconveniencing them or compromising the base defenses. Much to the villains' disappointment, he was professional about it. He did comment to the gadgeteer that there were a few things he'd better not see on his next inspection, and that he'd be keeping an eye on the local power grid, but that was about it.

[freakboy6117]

Re: Champions and the IRS

 

Well one way around the whole tax thing is to put your heroic image rights all those trademarks and copyrights pertaining to your costumed identity into trust of a foundation.

so that you don’t directly profit from them but eth foundation can then use those funds to provide equipment too you and other crime fighters as well as charitable donations for other costs ( paying out for property damage widows and children benefits etc) you can then if necessary take a paying job in your secret identity with the foundation

[Sweeper]

Re: Champions and the IRS

 

Heh, I'm reminded of that Spider Man comic with the check for $1,000,000. It's made out to Spider man, not Peter Parker, so when he tries to cash it, the bank needs 2 forms of ID, which he can't provide. Oh, the Drama.

[tribe]

Re: Champions and the IRS

 

Good Thread. I missed it the first time it came up, so I'm *bumping* it.

 

Does anyone else have ideas about this, or experience from actual games?

[EvilEmpryss]

Re: Champions and the IRS

 

My character actually collects her pay in her super ID. She has a bank account for it separate from her normal ID and pays separate taxes. This is mostly 'cuz my character likes to be able to bribe people, take fellow supers out to lunch, and generally spend money in ways that might cause suspicion if her normal ID's money disappeared without anything to show for it

 

Her only problem is when she goes to the bank she has to enter carefully so as not to alarm the bank guards! After all, her branch has been robbed three times since people realized that she did her banking there!

[korovan]

Re: Champions and the IRS

 

If some of the PCs are aliens (either E.T.s of simply foreign nationals) then official from the INS might be interested in them... especially if they are here without proper documentation and/or are trying to work and earn wages in the US...

[The Arc]

Re: Champions and the IRS

 

For those who've been wondering. AND I KNOW WHO YOU ARE!!! I actually did complete Stanley Ipswich. Here he is in four color style.

 

Stanley Ipswich

 

 

http://www.uber-world.com/characterpage.php?cid=885

 

Background

Stanley Ipswich was the only child of parents who were both accountants. His parents noticed early on that Stan was a mathematical genius at the age of four. Stan was solving math problems way beyond his years. His parents encouraged Stan as much as any overachieving parent would. They thought Stan would make a great accountant.

 

 

Growing up, Stan watched a lot of television when not working on some math problem or whatever. His favorite shows were Bonanza, Gunsmoke, and Paladin. These shows inspired Stan to want to help people. He thought about becoming a police officer, or maybe a FBI agent. This was to be his life’s dream.

 

 

Stan graduated high school when he was sixteen, and got his bachelors degree in two years. He spent some time working as an accountant for his parents, while studying to join the local police force. Unfortunately, while Stan scored high on his entrance exam at the police academy, he did abysmally on the physical part of the test. Stanley didn’t do any sports, though he did like baseball, calculating batting averages, and collecting other minutia fact on the game. Needless to say, Stan didn’t become a cop. So Stan turned to his second dream, becoming an FBI agent.

 

 

When Stan showed up at the government building, he was surprised at how many offices were in the building. It took Stan a half an hour to locate the offices of the FBI. Once in the agent took one look at the youthful man, and knew he would never make a good agent. This agent was of the old school, back when FBI agents were real men, and Stanley looked like he didn’t even shave yet. As a joke, the FBI agent directed Stanley to the office next door; maybe they could use someone with a talent for math. That office belonged to the Internal Revenue Service.

 

 

It was a little surprising to Stanley that he didn’t become a policeman, or an FBI agent, but he still was an agent nonetheless, an IRS agent for crying out loud. However, oddly enough, it felt good. Stanley took to the IRS like a fish takes to water. He quickly rose in the ranks because Stanley had a lot of talent. Stan just knew, he really knew, when people were cheating on their taxes. Eventually Stanley was moved from audits to special enforcement. With the number of costumed Uberhumans on the increase in America, the Director of the IRS felt a new division was in order. Stanley was assigned to the Uberhuman Division of the IRS. While Stanley never became a hero of his boyhood, he could certainly become a hero of another sort; the type that makes sure that every American pays his fair share of taxes, be they wearing a mask or not.

 

Personality

Stanley has always been obsessed with order. He’s constantly straightening his tie. Some people have compared his habits to Rodney Dangerfield. His desk is probably the neatest desk in all of the IRS. Stanely has to restrain himself from straighten up other peoples areas, especially when doing an audit.

 

 

The one thing that Stanley really gets upset about is those who cheat. Since he’s able to sense people who cheat on their taxes this doubly offends his sensibilities. Stanley will move heaven and earth to get at those who cheat. This is one of the reason he packs a pistol, and a kevlar vest for that matter.

 

Quote

"Well, this should discourage further violations of the federal tax code."

 

Powers

Stanley is a minor mentalist. His only real abilities is to mentally sense when someone cheats on his or her taxes. In a way it’s a very weak form of telepathy. Another side benefit to his power is that is difficult for other mentalists to influence his mind, especially if that mentalist is a tax cheat. Tax cheaters can’t hide from Stanley Ipswich, IRS Agent-Uberhuman Division.

 

 

Stanley has seen a lot during his years with the IRS. For this reason alone he packs a Desert Eagle, and a kevlar vest just in case. Stanley has had a few encounters with some super-villains who got irrate that Stanley disallowed their deductions on their tax forms, a couple of so-called super-heroes as well.

 

Appearance

Stanley is a middle aged man who is going bald on top. He’s also slightly overweight, and is average in height. Stanely usually wears a suit that screams Fed. He keeps his rather large pistol in a shoulder holster under his jacket, and under the jacket he usually wears a kevlar vest, because an IRS agent never knows when the shooting might start. Stanley is always an immaculate dresser.

[Maelstrom]

Re: Champions and the IRS

 

In a world with superheroes, maybe they can apply for a tax id, just like a nonprofit or a corporation.

[Vondy]

Re: Champions and the IRS

 

If they work for an organization this isn't a problem. The organization can handle their taxes for them via the organizations agent of record. That takes care of the organization's taxes, but it doesn't deal with personal income tax. That, however, could be handled by having the super be incorporated and have all funds go to the corporation, with the super's lawyer serving as the agent of record. This would necessitate, at some point in the process, someone knowing the super's identity (at least the lawyer). Another thing to consider is the attitude towards supers in your campaign. In a super-positive setting the IRS might allow supers to disclose their identities only to the IRS, who keeps that information "classified." Its really up to you.

[EvilEmpryss]

Re: Champions and the IRS

 

Yes, but you can't trust the government to keep your ID secret, can you?

 

Workers take home laptops with private info on them, and then the laptops get stolen. Computers get hacked and files get stolen. Or, even worse, some numbskull actually puts the info on a public server! All these things have happened in real life in the last five years.

 

Then again, they can make for interesting plot devices!

 

My character incorporated her super ID, copyrighted her look, her name, and her emblem, and has her own web site and 1-800 phone number.

[Metaphysician]

Re: Champions and the IRS

 

I don't know, I could see the IRS keeping such a secret, if only because no one would be ballsy enough to try and take it.

 

( dirty secret: the real reason Doctor Destroyer faked his death, is because the IRS was still chasing him for back taxes owed from the 50s. He made his public return and further attempts to conquer the world after he realized it didn't work ;-) )

[Vondy]

Re: Champions and the IRS

 

I don't know, I could see the IRS keeping such a secret, if only because no one would be ballsy enough to try and take it.

 

( dirty secret: the real reason Doctor Destroyer faked his death, is because the IRS was still chasing him for back taxes owed from the 50s. He made his public return and further attempts to conquer the world after he realized it didn't work ;-) )

 

My favorite is that in the 90's a pair of IRS agents got caught on tape taking baseball bats to the car of a big-time tax delinquent while he tried to pull out of his driveway to avoid being arrested by them. I have no idea what idiocy possessed them - or what kind of fed keeps a baseball bat in his fedsled - but that afternoon the FBI made an arrest: the IRS agents and the tax delinquent (for failing to obey a federal agent). Still, not a group of pencil pushing bean counters you want to cross...

[The Arc]

Re: Champions and the IRS

 

The inspiration for Stanely Ispwich, came from the character Derek Lester played by Larry Miller in the movie "For Richer or Poorer" starring Tim Allen and Kristie Alley.

[Karmakaze]

Re: Champions and the IRS

 

Yes, but you can't trust the government to keep your ID secret, can you?

 

Workers take home laptops with private info on them, and then the laptops get stolen. Computers get hacked and files get stolen. Or, even worse, some numbskull actually puts the info on a public server! All these things have happened in real life in the last five years.

 

This also gets complicated that in a world with supers, you have supertech and superhackers on both sides of the fight for information. So it might depend on whether the government puts the right supertech in place to keep the secrets.

 

In Marvel, for most of the run, Avengers were allowed to maintain secret ID's, even from the rest of the team. They did have to give their real name to a secured system for an automated background check (invented and programmed by Tony Stark). As far as I know, that system was never broken into (and I think Stark even didn't peek). In fact, part of the origin of the Thunderbolts was that they were hoping to become the next Avengers (this was during the plotline where most non-mutant heroes were missing), so they could have legitimate access to the Avengers database.

 

If I were to run this sort of thing in a campaign, I'd probably handwave the general security level the same way the genre handwaves the feasibility of secret IDs in the first place. (Given mentalists and superdetectives and the fact that most supers will at some point bleed in public, a sufficiently motivated government agency would probably be able to track most heroes down anyway.)

[Metaphysician]

Re: Champions and the IRS

 

Thats one thing I tend to consider: in a non-iron age setting, the government *isn't* going to spending significant amounts of its time and resources tracking down the secret IDs of heroes. They have much more important things to do with their time.

[jkwleisemann]

Re: Champions and the IRS

 

From the perspective of somebody who works for the state's version of the IRS (I'm not an auditor, or a collection's agent, so the lynch mobs can hold off....):

 

I would think that the typical hero who profits from his ID does so through a corporate identity; for example, you might have "Champions Incorporated," which handles all the business dealings of the team, pays the rent, etc., and shells out cash to the 'employees' of the team - the secret ID's, including base help.

 

As such, the company is taxed, and Defender doesn't collect one red cent - Harmon does.

 

Now, if we assume we don't work through a corporation, the state really doesn't care all that much *where* the money comes from so long as you report all of it.

 

Heck, we've got special rules in place for people reporting their income as *drug dealers*. I think the average superhero could report his income on his secret ID's tax returns without any trouble. If somebody from the IRS *did* want to take a look at his financials and ask "how does Scott Summers earn this much as a part-time teacher, even at a private school?", then it would be a simple matter of substantiating that he received that much money - national security and law enforcement might care about why he received it, but frankly, that's an entirely different ball o' wax than how you report your taxes.

 

So you shouldn't *have* to report your ID for taxation reasons.