IRS To Tax Posh Emmy Gift Bags
Posted August 25, 2006 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
There are pearls, chocolates, designer clothes and offers of hotel stays.
But for celebrity presenters at this year’s Emmy Awards, there’ll also be something not so nice inside the jam-packed goodie bag: a tax form.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the U.S. government agency responsible for tax collection, will be taxing star presenters if they choose to accept the gift.
This year’s official Emmy gift basket has a reported price tag of between $27,000 and $33,000. That could amount to a tax bill of between $12,000 and $15,000.
Among the posh items filling up this year’s sack: offers of Dooney & Burke luggage, Fresh skincare products, Dove chocolates, and getaways to New Zealand and Whistler, British Columbia.
It’s not the first time the IRS has tried to cash in on award show goodies – the 2006 Academy Awards gift bags cost more than $100,000 apiece, with no single item being priced under $500.
The Emmy Awards are handed out this Sunday in Los Angeles, hosted by late night talk show personality Conan O’Brien.
Here’s a complete rundown of the final list of goodies included in presenter gift bags:
- Five-day stay at Old Bahama Bay on Grand Bahama Island
- One-year bicoastal membership to the Sports Club/LA
- Sprint Fusic mobile phone
- Two nights at the US Grant in San Diego, including spa treatments
- One-year membership to YogaWorks
- Five-day golf or ski getaway at the Adara Hotel in Whistler, B.C.
- Six days at the Wharekauhau Country Estate in Featherston, New Zealand
- Four days at the Dolphin Bay Hotel & Residences in Pismo Beach, California
- Six days at The Lodge at Molokai Ranch on Molokai, Hawaii
- Babystyle gift card, Lulu the Lamb stuffed kids’ chair and personal shopping consultation
- Gift certificate for two-day “Emmy Crush Camp” wine appreciation at the Napa Valley Hotel
- Food & wine pairing for six people from the Crustacean Restaurant in Beverly Hills
- Spa gift certificate and products from Fresh
- Gingi skincare products
- Ike Behar silk tie, button-down shirt and lapis cufflinks
- Morton’s Steakhouse gift certificate
- String of pearls from Pearl Paradise
- Prive Salon and Ona Spa gift certificate
- Dooney & Bourke leather roller luggage
- “365 Days of Dove” chocolate assortment
- Gift certificate for linens from DreamSleep Studio
- Instructions on how to donate gowns, tuxes and other Emmy goodies to the Clothes Off Our Back Foundation to benefit relief efforts in Darfur, Sudan, the Children’s Defense Fund and Cure Autism Now
