But how would he justify those taxes in an audit? What is the cover story and corroborating evidence of his income source? A stack of coroner’s reports?
2 Likes
How about a stock market thing like in GTA5? Some things, like using a Kronstadt car to blow someone up might affect the Kronstadt stocks. Doing the catwalk in Paris results in Sanguine boosts. Stuff like that.
3 Likes
Personally, I think it’s cooler - and more in line with 47’s style - that he stay off the grid and instead of us seeing him pay taxes, we follow him avoiding taxes while still maintaining his new fancy lifestyle. A bribe here, assassination favor for an auditor in exchange for looking the other way there, he’s got it made. I mean, let’s face it: screw Providence, screw ICA, the IRS is the most powerful organization in the world. Well, them and their counterpart agencies outside the US. They caught Al Capone; the super wealthy take the ironic action of throwing around a lot of money in order to avoid paying them; they could seize the funding of an entire military; in fiction they nearly shut down the Avengers; and even the Joker doesn’t want to mess with them, and makes sure to pay his dues annually, on time. If there’s any enemy 47 can face where he can’t just kill his way out of the situation, it’s the IRS.
1 Like
Oh, don’t you know? The rich do pay taxes, they just call them bribes instead.
That’s what I meant about throwing around a lot of money to avoid paying taxes. It’s… stupid. But that’s the wealthy for you.
2 Likes
I’ve never thought to ask, but does the IRS report crimes to other agencies or are they simply happy to get their money? If 47 actually wrote down that he earned a million bucks from doing a professional hit, had all his numbers right, and honestly paid his taxes, would the IRS just say “thanks” and file his paperwork without saying a word or would the FBI come calling?
2 Likes
To my understanding, they’d be required to report him. Although, if he didn’t reveal exactly how he got the money, I don’t know how many questions they’d be inclined to ask. Now, if he did a job for them…
1 Like
According to NBC at least, an IRS tax return is confidential so the IRS cannot share it with any other agency without a warrant, so theoretically if 47 did file a U.S. tax return and reported illegal income, the IRS would just file it as normal.
If there was actually an open case and law enforcement had a warrant though, they could subpoena his returns.
That’s assuming that what 47 does is actually illegal though.
2 Likes
Ooh! I wonder if we can decorate our pad with a Gadsen flag? 
1 Like
Well, since all of 47’s hits that aren’t listed as accidents are “unsolved,”’and therefore still pending, that would count as an open case, so there’s that.
I guess then that it would depend on whether 47 was an actual suspect in the crime then (and whether there’s any jurisdictional issues). I doubt that the French police, for example, would be subpoenaing the IRS, but the FBI certainly could. One could probably make the argument that a “silent assassin” wouldn’t be on the radar of the authorities anyway, so even if there is technically an open case, 47’s tax return wouldn’t be the target of an investigation anyway.
side note to IOI: If we don’t get some info on Freelancer soon, we’re probably just going to keep talking about taxes and whether murder is technically a federal crime or not… so please?
1 Like
Murder is definitely not a federal crime. Not in and of itself, although it could be an aspect of a federal crime, such as tax fraud, or multiple murders across state lines, etc… Assassination, however, could be a federal crime if it’s an elected federal official. Nolan Cassidy, for example, as a former Secret Service agent, is a former federal employee who was murdered on US soil; that could have the feds looking at it. For that matter, Chad Bingham Jr.‘s death helping to swing an election. To say nothing of the fact that 47 snuck into the White House and murdered the goddamn Vice President. And if some ETs are canon, then there’s Troutt, so… yeah, murder itself not a federal crime, but murdering someone federal, that’s a different story.
2 Likes
Also serial killers, as depicted in that Elusive Target that we can’t play… that falls into FBI jurisdiction too. There are clearly crimes that 47 has committed that would be federal issues, but the question would still remain as to whether those agencies would suspect 47 of committing them. If, as in the lore of the game, there is no evidence that he committed the crime, they wouldn’t have him as a suspect and would not have any reason to actually investigate any of his tax filings.
1 Like
But the initial question was if the IRS would do anything if 47 admitted to them plainly that the money he’s claiming is earned income from assassinations. So throw that into the mix of these open cases that happened that year that he’s filing for and, at the very least, you have to wonder if the IRS would be inclined as to verify exactly which jobs he did that he’s claiming income on, and what they would do once they found out. Do they call up the FBI and tell them, “hey, remember that congressman and his self-help buddy that died in Italy back in August and nobody was sure if it was an accident or if they got whacked…?”
1 Like
That’s exactly what they wouldn’t do.
The IRS, from what I understand, holds those returns and filings as confidential so while an “honest” IRS agent could tip off the FBI or the Secret Service, unofficially, there would be no tip off in an official capacity. It’s a tough question. I also have no idea how detailed the IRS expects a filing to be. Do they simply want to know the total of illegally gotten gains or would they actually ask about which jobs, which targets, etc.?
If it’s just reported as self-employed income, then the detail may not be that important as long as Uncle Sam gets his.
That prompts me to wonder though if 47 ever got a W2 from the ICA.
1 Like
Will freelancer have notoriety? Another way to spend money.
6 Likes
But like any other institution, including religious or psychiatric, if there is clear evidence that the privileged information is being used in the furtherance of crimes, they would be required to report it. In this hypothetical instance, 47 is making it clear that he got this money from committing a crime, say, putting a bullet through Jordan Cross’s heart, and by processing his filings on the money he earned from that, the IRS would be helping in the furtherance of that crime that they are now aware of. Do they report it, or do they stay silent and remain co-conspirators?
I have often wondered how that worked. Knowing now what I know about financial crimes, and ignoring that ICA is an international group that uses Swiss and Cayman Island accounts, and presumably their employees and agents too, that doesn’t explain how the clients explain where these large payments they’re making are going, shortly before the person who killed their family member suddenly and inexplicably falls into a meat grinder. What system has ICA set up to protect all this money they’re moving around from being audited? How do they protect their clients? Are they buying off or doing favors for groups that watch for stuff like that, such as IRS? How will 47 and Diana do that now, with ICA no longer around to protect and camouflage illegal payments on assassinations? Has Diana pulled the same move Edwards did on the Partners and set it up so that if ICA ever folded the financial accounts and access to them would revert to her?
The financial logistics of paid killings in an increasingly scrutinized world fascinates me.
A good question. And can it be bought off, that what you mean about another way to spend it?
2 Likes
I wonder if an airport map will drop as a bonus. Thematically it would fit really well while travelling between locations
Maybe when a target has fled the map you have a second chance to catch them at an airport. Or you can even get caught in a trap
I am still hopeful (or deluded)
Deluded. A dev/some devs recently said they’re aware of the fan demand for an airport level, but making such a level was more complicated and involved than anticipated. I’m not sure if that’s from a design standpoint or a legal one, and I don’t have the source, but I could have sworn I saw that piece of info recently.
3 Likes
