Found money. Still taxable.
A dollar on the sidewalk or ten grand in a piano — the treasure trove rule covers both.
Answer the questions.
Your answers drive the verdict — no account, no tracking.
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How each answer was treated
The piano precedent
In 1969 a couple found $4,467 inside a used piano — and the court ruled every dollar taxable in the year they claimed it.
Cesarini v. United StatesThe case that made “finders keepers” a tax event.