Question

Acme published a story about paul and as a result paul sued acme for damage to his reputation, emotional distress, and punitive damages. paul won an award of $20,000 for damages, $5,500 for emotional distress, and $50,000 for punitive damages. what amount must paul include in his gross income? $5,500 $20,000 $50,000 $70,000 all of the benefits are included in gross income.

Answer 1

All of the benefits for non-personal injury cases must be reported as gross income for tax purposes. Since defamation isn't a personal injury claim, all of the award must be reported and is subject to taxation.

Answer 2

All of the benefits are included in gross income.

Step-by-step explanation:

The gross income is the amount of money you receive in a specific period of time before taxes are deducted. When someone receives money from a lawsuit, this money is taxable and has to be included in the gross income with exception to the personal injury cases in which the benefits are tax-free but the injury has to be physical.

In this case, Paul has to pay taxes on his total earnings because emotional distress is not a physical injury and it would be taxed as an income. Because of that, the answer is that Paul must include in his gross income all of the benefits.