No good deed goes unpunished – the fan who handed over Derek Jeter’s 3,000th-hit ball will owe the IRS thousands, tax pros said Monday.
Christian Lopez, 23, will probably be on the hook for $5,000 to $13,000 because of the luxury seats the grateful Yankees gave him, the accountants said.
“He’s a great guy,” says Terry Ganer, a die-hard Yankees fan and accountant for Ganer Grossbach & Ganer in midtown. “But I’m pretty sure the tax man, unfortunately, is not a Yankee fan and will not look at this so sympathetically.”
Lopez says he’ll pay – but he wouldn’t mind a little help.
“Worse comes to worse, I’ll have to pay the taxes,” he told the Daily News on Monday. “I’m not going to return the seats. I have a lot of family and friends who will help me out if need be.
“The IRS has a job to do, so I’m not going to hold it against them, but it would be cool if they helped me out a little on this.”