"parl...@nospam.nospam" wrote:
>> If a friend of mine who is a professional carpenter does some work
>> for
>> me around my house, do I have to pay taxes on this if I bought him
>> pizza "in exchange” for his services?
> I'd like to ask this question again with a few variations:

> 1. If a friend of mine who is a carpenter by profession does some work
> on my house and I buy him a pizza “in exchange” for his services has
> an accounting transaction just occurred? Do we each have to pay taxes
> on the value of this exchange?

> 2. What if that person is my dad?

> 3. What if it’s an uncle?  An in-law?  A second cousin twice removed?

> 4. What if instead of a pizza I bought him passage on a cruise?

> 5. What if I gave him an old car that I owned outright?

> 6. What if I just gave him a hug?

> 7. What if I gave him a piece of paper that says “I promise to mow
> your lawn.”?

> 8. What if I gave him a piece of paper that says “I promise to give
> you $1,000 when I sell my house?”

> 9. What if I fixed this person’s computer while they were working on
> my house?

> 10. What if I gave this gave this person a password to my Online Role-
> Playing Game and let them take over my identity which I had
> painstakingly earned 10,000,000 power points and could do all sorts of
> cool tricks that only 10,000,000 power points can buy?

> 11. And finally, what if I didn’t give this person anything for their
> services but later that same year it just so happened that I ended up
> doing one or all of the above?

> No joke.  I’m really interested in understanding the answers to these
> questions. All of the above have actually happened in my life, except
> #10 because I don’t play role-playing games…at least not enough to
> earn 10,000,000 power points.