Sunday, August 13, 2006

Say Bye Bye To The Swag


The IRS is cracking down on the over-the-top gift bags given out to celebrities at award shows.

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences recently sent out letters to presenters and nominees scheduled to appear on the Aug. 27 Emmy Awards advising them they will be responsible for paying income taxes on the freebies in their "very special Gift Bag," worth between $27,000 and $33,000.

Every celebrity who received the warning was asked to sign and return a letter to the Academy acknowledging, "You are aware of this obligation . . . We will not be able to present a gift bag to any individual for whom we have not received this signed letter in advance."

The Academy hinted it might be forced to turn over a list of its swag-bag recipients to the IRS. It warned in a letter to the TV talent: "We are presently researching the income-tax reporting requirements surrounding gift bags. We will make a determination later this year as to the Television Academy's income-tax reporting obligations to the IRS and state and local tax authorities."

We all know what that means. No more A-List celebrities presenting at these award shows , they show for the free sh!t, unless they're being paid to promote a film. No appearances at The Emmy's by ANYONE unless they are really desperate. Like maybe Matt LeBlanc, who really could use a gig, and Jennifer Love Hewitt just cos she's such a publicity whore.

source

1 comment:

LA said...

Brilliant to use I.R.S. Records' logo for this post!

Anyway, isn't Tara Reid known to be a total swag whore? And Perez?