[Jack_Spade]

So I've got a tax problem.

A character with a national SIN pays 15% of his gross income in taxes.
Now let us assume he also happens to owe a substantial amount of debt to some... private financiers, let's say 30k at 10% a month.
Let's further assume the character earns 30.000 from a run - payed with a certified cred stick.

Now, would you say he can just use the money to directly pay his debts, or would you say he needs to deduct 4500 first and therefore won't be able to pay of the loan shark?

[adzling]

Gross REPORTED income.

If the country doesn't know you're making income they can't tax it.

So if that income is untraceable (sounds like it is, as it's a certified cred-stick) then theoretically he reports whatever the heck he likes to the government.

However I would assume that they checkup on how much your spending and the like so I'd deduct the national sin cost after paying the loanshark as the loanshark money is unreported income (and untraceable as he was paid via certified cred-stick).

[Mirikon]

Indeed. It is everything that is reported. However, you best have SOME reported income from some means if you're living above a Squatter or Traveller lifestyle. A middle lifestyle and not earning a dime tends to stick out in people's minds in some quarters. And even the mob doesn't mess with the IRS.

[PiXeL01]

I would rule tax goes before all else as it really isn't real tax you are paying but bribes and fees to keep having that SIN without having it revoked or turned into a criminal SIN with worse restrictions.
So
1 - Tax
2 - loan

[Fabe]

Maybe tax time is good time for a Runner to burn their current SIN.

[Reaver]

Maybe tax time is good time for a Runner to burn their current SIN.

Sure. Right after he repays the karma he got from taking a negative quality.....

But until then; 15% of EVERY run please. No exceptions.

[Fabe]

Maybe tax time is good time for a Runner to burn their current SIN.

Sure. Right after he repays the karma he got from taking a negative quality.....

But until then; 15% of EVERY run please. No exceptions.

Fake SIN, guess I should've specified that.

[Jack_Spade]

My question is centered on the word "gross income" in the rules text.

Usually, if you are self employed and have debt you can reduce your tax burden accordingly.
But since this is a game written by Americans and I am utterly unfamiliar with what an American writer would consider the reported gross income of a criminal 60 years in the future, I'm unsure what the intent of this rule is.

(Because gross income in Germany includes not only money but also in kind benefits, material and services received. And calculating the value of loot you didn't actually sell seems to be a tad to harsh...)

[Lysanderz]

Oh if it's a fake SIN, you cycle those out every 2-3 months unless your damned and determined to keep your loft. That's why I have a house boat, I just move piers and present new paperwork every few months. No taxes, no need to spend a day moving, and no worries about getting busted with all my gear while moving to a new apartment. It can stay nice and snug in my smuggling compartments.

[Hobbes]

SINner negative quality is off the top.  It's actually a pretty rough negative quality. 

Shadowrun, fortunately, doesn't go into tax evasion rules.  You and your table are of course free to fluff it however you want, taxes, money laundering, expenses to maintain your double life, whatever.  But RAW, its a cut off the gross. 

[Lickintoad]

But until then; 15% of EVERY run please. No exceptions.

Does the Johnson withhold for you?  How are you getting the W-2 for those runs?  Would you need a W-2 from each Johnson, or one W-2 per fixer?

If you're UCAS, is a DocWagon contract mandated, and is there a penalty for not carrying one?

[Herr Brackhaus]

Yeah, it's 15% off whatever you earn, no exceptions. It's a negative quality tax, not an IRS one; players don't get to declare 25% of their income as "deductible for hazardous working conditions".

It's a game mechanic you paid karma for, so it's already meta. No fictional reasoning needed, just reduce your payments by 15%, full stop.

[Jack_Spade]

I don't mind paying the 15% cash. It's the major headache how to process this ingame and how to handle non-monetary loot...

[Crimsondude]

I don't mind paying the 15% cash. It's the major headache how to process this ingame and how to handle non-monetary loot...

Services rendered to your friendly neighborhood money launderer.

[Sendaz]

It's the major headache how to process this ingame and how to handle non-monetary loot...

Oh that's easy.

You can go to any local IRS branch with the loot/list of items for an appraisal.

What's that? You don't want to walk into a federal building with a prototype or list of the items you lifted from your last corp raid?

Yes, that can be annoying, but honestly so long as you didn't rob a federal facility in the process and pay your tax they really do not care, because just like the historic Minnesota Grass tax, Revenue officials must guarantee confidentiality to those paying.
The right to pay anonymously is important to ensure that individuals are allowed the constitutional guarantee against self-incrimination.

And if taking a list because you don't feel comfortable hauling in the loot,please try to describe the items to the best of your ability to ensure the best possible assessment.
Otherwise if you just put down say, 10 automatics lifted from security guards without listing brands, the assessor can and will assign the highest possible value for that category of weapons even though they know full well that particular corp uses cheap knock-offs.

Also make sure the list is disposable, I recommend flash paper, because while the IRS can't disclose anything,  the cops sitting down the street might stop you for a chat and you don't want that list falling into their hands. 
Again they can't ask what you were at the IRS for and the IRS can't tell them, so just make sure there is nothing on you can be traced back to anything.

Services rendered to your friendly neighborhood money launderer.

But that is the rub, the fence/money launderer is never going to pay you the full value of the item and your tax guy isn't going to care that YOU only got 30% of the value of the item, the IRS will still want the tax based against the listed value of the item.

It's like those poor bastards who win a car on a game show only to get slapped with a punitive gift tax that is still based on the value of the car and not the actual price you might get for it.