Yeah IRS would probably have some questions, to say the least. But if it's unknown and untraceable, they should also have a significant amount of questions for your bank for having no idea how that money got put in your account.
Naw, the IRS has one question. "Where's our cut?" So long as you pay your taxes the IRS doesn't give a shit how you got the money.
Other government agencies on the other hand...
Saul: It's the tax man. And he's looking at you. Now, what does he see? He sees a young fellow with a big fancy house, unlimited cash supply and no job. Now, what is the conclusion the tax man makes?
Jesse: ...I'm a drug dealer?
Saul: Err! Wrong! Million times worse! You're a tax cheat!
There's so much to explain as to how/why billionaires don't pay taxes and they're honestly not paying off politicians. It's perfectly legal. For parts of the year billionaires actually don't have much liquid cash, it's all in assets which aren't taxed just like some of regular people's. It's not taxed until they make that cash liquid which is why they don't get taxed. It would take an hour to explain how it's all legal without lobbying but I don't have that time.
That kind of money will be involving the Treasury department, IRS, DHS, and FBI at a minimum...
BUT as to OP's question: Assuming you can defend the money against seizure you'll be writing a $74bn check to the IRS for taxes (technically slightly lower because of the progressive tax brackets, but that's a rounding error at numbers like this), a check to your state tax authority if there is state income tax, and then enjoying the remainder in a non-FDIC insured account (again technically it's insured, but that's a rounding error again).
Crime pays, as long as the IRS gets it's cut...
Watch the Fat Electrician and his explanation:
[The IRS & Crime](https://youtu.be/fzZ-itX6loM?si=L-sycXGFV6gdbl15)
Na the FBI would look into things but there is no wrong doing. So they can dig and dig and dig and dig some more. Nothing will happen. You could literally get a cease and desist on them. There is no wrong doing, so they can fuck off.
The IRS will want to know. They may refer your case to the FBI if they suspect something illegal happened. But for this sum of money they wonāt just take your tax money and move on. Especially because if that money did come from something illegal the entire sum may be subject to seizure. Thereās no way they would ignore this.
The IRS literally has rules and (I believe) forms for reporting and calculating taxes on illegal income. They will tell the FBI that they should investigate but that is as far as the IRS will go.
Hi there, I deal with the IRS as part of my job.
If you report $200,000,000,000 of illegal income, you're getting audited, 100%
They're just gonna bring the FBI along because a criminal worth that much would be assumed very dangerous.
The IRS always wants their cut but they absolutely do want to know where it's coming from. If anything, the first time you file they might assume it's a typo and reject it.
Kind of. They check to make sure everything lines up but part of that is also to determine if it's illegal.
The audit is like a car inspection or a search warrant. It exists to get someone with a keen eye looking to see if any money can be made off you.
But an audit might actually be welcome in this case because you want to claim the money as rightfully yours so you'll want to cooperate with the IRS and do everything by the books. Pay your ~$74,000,000,000 in taxes and retire early knowing that you have paid enough in taxes to basically get a permanent spot in the Guinness book of world records.
Exactly. They'll make sure they get their proper cut but as far as legality they'll check but ultimately they'll hand their suspicions over to another agency.
Thatās not what the other poster is saying. And the point I was making was exactly what they are saying which is that the IRS will absolutely want to know where the money came from which they will do through the form of an audit. To claim that theyāll just close their eyes and take a cut (with the implication that they are a greedy organization who just wants money) is ridiculous and naive. The government, writ large, will want to know where this money came from. That goes for Local, State, and Federal Governments. The audit will determine if the money was potentially obtained illegally and could results in referrals to other agencies including, but not limited to, the FBI.
Nope š The IRS has its own investigators. They will refer if they think something illegal happened. But they might refer you to the SEC or FBI or some other agency. But not before they dig in for sure. They definitely wonāt just take the taxes out and move on.
Redditors again just saying shit. No, they are going to ask where it came from because that affects taxable rates and the size of their cut. I just had to respond to an inquiry about where some of my income came from because of just that very fact.
Doesn't the US have laws on the books that let them seize money if you can't prove where it came from or give a reasonable explanation. It's been a couple of years, but I remember it happening to people at traffic stops when they had thousands in cash b/c they were on their way to buy a car.
I think they'd default to "there's no legal way you got that money, so we're taking it".
[https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/03/23/jerry-johnson-arizona-police-civil-asset-forfeiture/11532462002/](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/03/23/jerry-johnson-arizona-police-civil-asset-forfeiture/11532462002/)
[https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2023/12/20/rotten-core-cash-seizures-are-now-focus-congress/](https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2023/12/20/rotten-core-cash-seizures-are-now-focus-congress/)
Yea youād have some forms to fill out to explain how you got the money so they could tax out properly. Since you canāt explain how you got out, the assumption is that it was illegal. Thatās not enough to convict for anything but itās plenty enough for them to take the money from you
Iirc, that wasn't the IRS that seizes that money, but police. Police do this all over the country. Civil asset forfiture. They just steal your money and add it to their budget. The justification is ostensibly that who else but someone involved in an illegal enterprise would carry large sums of money on their person? So if they find a large sum of money on your person, they very well may just seize it, and good luck ever getting it back.
Yeah but at the end of they day they will give 0 fucks it you just pay the taxes on it. They would love their cut!
To OP I would just keep living life. Look into an accessible home for me and mine, two nice cars, one for me and her. Keep my current car and restore it and do the 3.5 manual swap on it. And realisticly keep my modest lifestyle I have now and live on interest. Definitely some things I would splurge on, but most would be part of the custom home. Otherwise it would just be traveling.
The IRS would love me for being honest so my years would be filled with fun and enjoyment.
right after trying to make that normal $200 purchase which they always freeze for security purposes. it's to keep you safe!!...no it's to prevent people from spending the banks' money as long as possible. always remember possession is 9/10ths of the law.
You'd pay an insane amount of taxes and would be a massive news story across the world.
The government could choose to investigate the money, but if it's truly untraceable they would never be able to find anything to hold against you. A massive deposit like that definitely looks suspicious, but you can't be arrested just cause someone doesn't understand where you got money. It's not against the law.
Worst case scenario, you tell everyone you have no clue where it's from and they figure it's some kind of glitch in the system. So you end up getting to keep none of it.
If no one can figure out where the money came from, no transaction, no cash deposit, no check exchange, then no, No one would get arrested, as that would simply be an error in the account and would get fixed.
If it's coming from a different account they can't identify, then it's handcuff time, but that's changing the scenario.
In a world where government actually followed the law that would be true. Realistically the government would just hold that money forever for the smallest bs reasons and find ways to pocket it. And use some of that money to pay some mercās to harass the individual. If they can take away peoples bodily autonomy then this should be a piece of cake for them to handle.
You are 100% but I woudnt even call it predatory. They have no reason to trust you that hundreds of billions can magically appear, they have every reason to believe that this is a criminal operation of an unseen scale that could literary threaten National security so they are going to use all means to find or make up answers, including extrajudicial ones
Money is power. If any sort of agency tried to baselessly jail you or take it all, you could fight them on that hard. With their current funding, it would take a literal lifetime for the CIA to gather $200 billion, and thats assuming they save every penny they get just to use it against you
This. It's not cash in hand, it's in the bank, which unless you have a Grand Cayman or Swiss Bank account, that money will be frozen the moment they start to investigate you. They do that specially for the purposes of limiting your resources to fight against their investigation.
You do realize once you're in jail and have your assets frozen you can't hire a lawyer, right? And the government wouldn't have a hard time fighting you because they make the rules.
The CIA only deals with international matters, and it's not a law enforcement agency. Now, the FBI is another story, and if there is reason to believe that this is related to funding terrorism or some other foreign crime, the FBI would probably bring the CIA in on it.
It would probably be considered a system error and deleted lol.
I can't imagine that transfers that are that large could be handled by the system automatically, it would almost certainly require review by a human before being allowed to complete so it just showing up in the account without a human approving it would more than likely cause it to be judged as a system error.
I suppose for this to happen, hypothetically someone with that kind of money could just pick a person at random to donate to, then go through all the processes for that without that persons knowledge or consent.
I say consent because I donāt know how many people would accept that kind of money and the trouble that would come with it.
That, and Iām sure the authorities would want to ask the recipient a whole lot of questions.
That's about your best bet TBH. Assuming you get to "keep" the money then the accountant writes a $74bn check to the IRS and whatever is needed to your state and you're set.
That's like a bankrupting amount of cash to have, even for the US. I'm not sure what the government would do, but I'd gradually try to acquire my own country. lol
I am reasonably sure that any remotely competent bank that noticed and increase that large would immediately freeze the funds and tell you that it was obviously an error. If the money just appeared, or even if it were transferred in from a mystery source, there's no real way to guarantee those funds. The money in your bank account is imaginary. It's just based on a promise that someone else has a promise.
If there were some sort of cash deposit made in that amount, it would still absolutely be frozen and your bank may fight you on it a bit, but it's most likely that they are going to end up releasing most of it to you in a few weeks to a few months. They wouldn't really be able to keep it from you outside of reporting it to relevant agencies and charging you processing fees for a deposit that large. Your best chance in dealing with the feds would be claiming that it was a gift from an anonymous source and not spending any of that money outside of the US for at least a few years.
Also, immediately retain the services of a lawyer and a fiduciary. The chances that a mystery amount of money that high would end up in civil asset forfeiture proceedings is pretty high and you are almost definitely not equipped to handle that. I can very easily see several different types of law enforcement agencies that would do their best to seize that money, transfer it to another agency, and then give you multiple layers of courts and months of litigation in order to get any of it back.
Yes, the bank would freeze it immediately. I went to the bank and told them I was going to purchase a motorcycle on my credit card, got everything oked and cleared, proved I had the money and so on. I go to buy the bike, run the card and immediately they froze my account and it took me two hours on the phone to get them to let me spend the money. I get that's a protection against fraud, but it just shows you how quickly they will freeze an account. The amount by the way was $4700, a fair bit less than 200,000,000,000.
Shit like this actually does happen.Maybe not necessarily 200B but an obscene amount of money without notice and no clue to how or why it got there. It's almost always a routing error or accidental transfer and in which case you will be required to pay it back if you spend any.
Unless I had a guarantee it wouldn't go away I wouldn't touch it at all.
First you report it to the bank as an error, because if you don't know the source that is what you should assume. There might be a small news story about the error, but at this point the news will all say that the account is frozen pending investigation and you will be inconvenienced by not having your bank account during this time.
Bank transactions are all double entry, so for there to be $200 Billion in your account, there MUST be a $200 Billion Withdrawal somewhere else. (I would say that there could be $200 Billion in cash, but that much cash has not been printed.) If there is literally no trace of the deposit origin, it wold be considered an error and corrected back to your initial balance.
However, in the spirit of your question, let's say it didn't come from nowhere, but came from multiple anonymous Swiss bank accounts combined with some bitcoin sales and other sources that can be verified but are still anonymous. They all have the memo line "gift".
Now things get interesting. In theory, you the recipient of the gift are not liable for income on the gift, but the people who sent it ARE. But these people are unknown and untraceable. The IRS might try to take the tax out of your gift, they might not. You'll need a decent lawyer, although I would personally instruct the lawyer to let the government tax it as income, as I would be perfectly happy having just the remainder, provided the payment is delayed until it is sure that the transactions cannot be reversed. Then, with $126 Billion clear money, I would invest the $100 Billion in an index fund for growth. I would invest the $26 billion in a smaller fund and live lavishly off the interest.
Once the growth fund has doubled (Approx 10 years) to $200 billion I would send it anonymously to a random bank account.
You can't get money from an 'unknown untraceable source'. It has to be transferred from somewhere.
So assuming it just magically appeared in your bank account, they'd assume it was a glitch or hack and investigate you and you'd never see a cent.
I don't think banking transactions work like that. There would need to be some record of the source, otherwise the bank would assume it is an error and I wouldn't get anything.
Did somebody just arrive with a dump truck full of cash?
I probably lose it to government seizure. I imagine they don't fuck around.
Though also since money is all digital it could probably just be deleted by the bank with some overhead approval? I actually don't know.
Surely injecting a random $200 Billion into "circulation" would lead to some pretty significant inflation considering that's more money than several countries' GDPs.
Thatās if itās injected out of nowhere, that amount would severely impact a countries economy for sure, but if it was transferred, as in, the money already exists and was just taken from one place and put in another, then you donāt have that issue.
You just suddenly have a lot of new best friends and long lost family members appearing.
After confirming with the bank that it was not an error you would contact the IRS and let them decide how much you owe them in taxes. Idk what the tax rate is on gifts but I think that is how it will be taxed if it truly was from a random source. After that the money is yours.
I'll change the scenario. Rather than mysterious, untraceable money, imagine that Elon Musk signed over nearly all his assets to you. (Musk kept a few billion dollars for himself.) It's weird, but totally above board and honest. You worked with lawyers and accountants, and the IRS and pay taxes, as needed. You have $100 billion spread across various government bonds, US & international stocks, and other fungible assets.
What do you do with the money?
All of the banking and legal regulations and rules would go out the window on something like this. Think of the Atlanta Olympics bombing. That guy was innocent and yet got blamed and slandered and it ruined his life. If you had 200 billion dollars suddenly, the media, the government, and public opinion would all be focused on you and you would certainly be damaged or destroyed from all the sudden changes in your life and privacy. You would be the third richest person in the world.
Also, 200 billion could only possibly come from a few places, and it would be pretty easily figureoutable.
Now it's time to read "The Pearl" by John Steinbeck.
I'd have a castle that's designed with massive stone blocks for exterior structures, but the interior is a mansion with large rooms designed for hosting parties, with servant's hallways inside the walls between the rooms. The whole place would be kept under recorded video surveillance but would otherwise be largely open to the public at all hours. I'd make it feel as much as possible like a medieval castle but with modern comforts.
I'd keep a few medieval knightly chaps as bouncers and let the real security hide in the walls or in the security office watching the video feeds.
Beyond the castle courtyard would be a small town, with one person from every profession necessary to make the town self sufficient.
And the whole place would be powered by a molten salt nuclear reactor or whatever the latest and greatest model may exceed the efficiency and safety of that model.
Also under the castle would absolutely be a massive bunker complex similar to a fallout vault-tek vault.
I doubt I'd get to keep it. Got to protect the Bourgeois monopoly on wealth, can't have random Proles gaining that kind of power.
When a poor person does it, it's a crime, you see.
Doesn't matter. I take whoever tries to get between and that money to court. And keep going until I hit SCOTUS. They vote for me to have my money.
Five of nine Justices get nice vacation homes "gifted" to them through various non profit agencies
Honestly Iād contact the highest level of IRS I can get and explain the situation and how if the money is deemed real/legitimate and then ask how Iād go about giving the IRS their cut and then using the rest. Even if the IRS took 99% that leaves me with 2 billion dollars which is enough to create GENERATIONAL wealth
Wanted to originally be a filmmaker. I would use the money to make 10 $500 million extravagant commercially leaning art films with bleeding edge special effects and fresh scripts from originally conceived novels that I would myself with the help of the most experienced writers. I would release them all in curved screen IMAXes worldwide. That would be adequate compensation to make films as good as JC or SK did considering they were born naturally gifted and precocious and I wasn't. The rest I would put somewhere in a bank in a tax haven country.Ā
Iām paying all the taxes on it first. Then Iām paying off all of my debt and my wifeās debt. Then Iāll put in 2 weeks notice at my job. Then Iād hire a certified financial advisor. Iād invest. Iād start looking for land to build ohr dream house on in our preferred location. Then weād go shopping for other homes in different countries we plan on frequenting. Iād get a new car. Get my wife a car. Hire a daily personal health chef and trainer and a maid service. And that about sums it up.
As others have alluded to, I'd contact the IRS. The last thing I need is them to put an auditor up my ass. I think I could reasonably expect to remain a diminished billionaire after the fact, so I'm not worried.
Realistically, Iād hire someone immediately to make sure Iām in the clear and taxes are sorted. Start an LLC to hold the funds in various accounts and live comfortably off the interest and dividends. Donate regularly to limit my tax liability, also maybe invest in peopleās ideas like shark tank but less risk averse.
Very simple. I declare it to the IRS, allow them to do their investigation after paying off some short term debt, and once they conclude nothing illegal was happening, I pay my taxes and enjoy the 100 some odd billion dollars I have after that.
There is a 20% income tax, so Iād have to pay $40 billion, which leaves me with $160 billion. I would first make my village, and I would invite my friends and family to live in rent-free homes, Iād provide everything for them. I would then decide to help others who are homeless, Iād prioritise vets, and I would also set up my own care homes for children who need somewhere to live.
Iād then probably enjoy life and do whatever the hell I want.
There isnāt much else to do with that kind of money.
First off, I question how the bank itself has no idea how it got there.Ā
If the bank doesn't freeze my account, and tells me that the money is mine, I then contact a tax lawyer, cause I'm about to need to make one hell of a payment to the IRS.
I'd leave it alone for 7 years and then assuming no-one had claimed it back (through the bank) I'd get to keep it. If anyone does claim it (and it can be verified that they sent it by mistake) then they get it back plus any interest earned. (Not in US (or US citizen and for this amount I'd happily renounce my citizenship if I had one) so IRS etc are irrelevant.)
That said for this amount I suspect the account would just be locked and they'd remove whole amount as an error or oversight, I don't think normal banks can handle this sort of cash in normal accounts.
All of a sudden so many schools would get better, a new crop of people who came from modest beginnings but have done great social/scientific/educational work come into the political fray with strong financial backing, longtime residents of previously redlined now gentrifying neighbourhoods would have their mortgages paid, and GoFundMe stories about people pleading to live because they canāt afford treatment effectively gets eliminated.
Thatād just be my first year
The bank would probably call you. If it just "appears out of nowhere" then they might just delete it and do nothing else but if it shows up as an actual bank transfer or deposit, they can't just delete it. They would be making a lot of phone calls and eventually that shit-avalanche will catch up to you and you'll be getting a lot of phone calls. So lawyer up first. If that money is real money and an origin is unknown, that is your money. Get the best lawyer you can find and then hire his worst enemy too. You're gonna need a great legal team and you can afford the best. Next is to update your security. You need a cyber security team to monitor this liquid capital until you can diversify it. But that'll be after you fight the courts to get them to return the money to you.
I'm not saying this will work. All I'm saying is I think it's your best shot at making it work.
I would start buying properties and CD's. I would set up a trust to manage everything so the principle could not be touched ever. I would create generational wealth so my family would be taken care of after my passing. For fun I would open an FFL 07 SOT gun shop with a range to keep myself busy. I would hire an army of accountants to ensure everything was good to go.
If I pay taxes on it the US government might not care if it isnāt illegal, wouldnāt that be like 40% in taxes?
I think I might move a few billion off shore just in case, to a place who doesnāt extradite to the USA.
Iād contact my bank first and make sure of its legitimacy. Iād probably then hire/create some sort of investment LLC and get them to deal with $198 billion of it while getting paid a percentage of the profits accrued (probably equal to about $10 million per year or something really small) and keeping $2 billion for personal interests. I absolutely donāt need more than this, and even this would be excessive.
Straight to jail.. seriously, there would be no way this wouldn't be seized then you investigated and banged up while they root through your life and find a reason to imprison you
Occam's Razor would be in effect in their minds.
This kind of did happen. A woman found her bank balance to be in the millions. It was later found out to be an error so the bank reversed the balance back to what it was IIRC.
I guess the bank would simply reverse the transaction if this did happen in real life.
Instantly become the richest man in canada. Growing up poor and knowing how shit it is, start up a new housing interest. Buy up as much land and housing as I possibly can and start renting it out to low income people for dirt cheap and hope this drives housing prices into the ground. This is the ultimate win, since it changes the lives of the most needy and screws over the richest assholes who have been slowly raising housing costs over the last 20 years.
200 billion would be an international incident. It wouldn't be *just* your country's tax agency, it'd be Interpol, forensic accountants, systems analysts. Your bank would be dissected piece by piece to work out how this could happen and your funds would be immediately frozen until an investigation had been conducted.
200 billion is enough to cause very serious problems for your banks profitability though interest alone. I doubt Ol baldy spaceman has 200 Billion just sitting in a bank account.
I pay off my debts and those of all my family and friends.
I buy a huge amount of land and start the school I've always dreamt of creating.
And I hire an assassin to... change the American political situation.
The FBI would pay me a visit. My bank would freeze my account. Itās very likely the assets would be seized by the government as evidence of a crime and I would never see them again even if not convicted.
First, contact a financial investment or law firm. Of that money, make sure to pay every fee and tax necessary. Aside from maybe three million dollars, have the rest invested in every legal and beneficial way the investment firm knows.
Why three million?
One million is specifically for any debts you may have. Any and all. The financial firm can likely give you a great list of them. You might have a lot of money, but donāt be afraid to hire someone to lessen the debt amount. There are specialists for that. If you have money left over in this million, go to the best hospital you can find and make sure youāre healthy.
Second million should be broken down to $20k or $50k bundles for personal charities, family or friends who could use it. Never give another penny after that to these people.
Third million is your fun money. Vacations, parties, all the dumb fun stuff you wanted to always do. Keep it cheap and you can effectively retire off this million alone. If you cut away as many luxuries as possible, you can travel light and never worry about things like rent or utilities while enjoying travel.
That would be me, at least. As few people would know I have money as possible. The money invested would pay residuals over the rest of my life, which Iād likely make into more charity bundles. Taxes and fees every year would come out of my residuals as well. Iād just get a decent pickup truck, drive to different camping areas across America, live relatively free. Help others out from time to time. Aside from my ID and a very plain looking credit card, Iād have almost nothing to my name aside from what I need immediately. Complete gray man living.
First I'm calling my bank to make sure it's not just an error with their website, then I'm immediately retaining legal counsel with the assumption that I will need to report this to some sort of government agency. If I get to actually keep it (doubtful), I don't touch it until after I file and pay my taxes, for which I hire a tax attorney to make sure I pay what I need to at the correct time and everything is correct on my return, assuming I'm almost certainly going to be audited. Once the IRS has accepted my return, I give my mom, siblings, grandparents, and best friend $1B each and go no-contact with pretty much everyone else in my life. The first thing I'm buying for myself with the money will be a really neat hat
Well, the first thing to do is contact the bank immediately and tell them that you don't know where the deposit came from. Do NOT say that the money isn't yours, because if it is, then you just lost out on a fortune. This is a matter where they have to investigate and determine if the deposit was made illegally or erroneously. Either way, the bank will likely freeze your account while they investigate. At $200 billion dollars, that investigation is going to rapidly escalate to the international level, and they will investigate every aspect of the matter, including a very deep dive into the bank personnel and the account holder and their families, friends, and anyone they know. Once they determine that the money can't be traced back to anyone and wasn't part of illegal activities (so far as they can tell), there's a real chance that you can keep it. You will have to pay taxes on it, of course, and you will most likely be under government scrutiny for the rest of your life.
That's the financial/legal side of it.
Now, let's look at the darker side of things. Given that this is something that will reach international levels, the likelihood of you being outed as a newly-minted billionaire quickly approaches 100% due to the sheer number of channels all this has to go through and the number of people involved. Someone's gonna run their mouth.
Whether or not you actually get to keep the money, you will likely need to change your identity (or take a LOT of precautions if you get the money) because everyone who has ever known you even tangentially (along with a metric assload of complete strangers) will be gunning for that money. Family, friends, exes, work colleagues, people from third grade, your neighbors, hell, anyone will turn into a greedy, manipulative asshat when a lot of money is on the line.
Your love life is going to get very complicated very soon. You will be a huge target for gold diggers, blackmailers, and pregnancy scams. You will be accused of sexual assault and miraculously be able to avoid criminal charges if you agree to settle out of court. All that wonderful nonsense.
You will become the target of corrupt police who will look for any reason whatsoever to pull you over, search your property, all that jazz, and you will become quite familiar with the term "civil forfeiture."
In short, your world is going to be turned upside down for the rest of your life, whether or not you get to keep the money.
Well first, my wife would slap me upside the head and ask me what illegal shit I was into that made this happen...
Then I'd book a trip to play the old course, and the other iconic courses over there.
The first thing would be to hire a tax attorney and financial advisor. Make sure the taxes are paid and a trust is set up. Make everyone involved sign an NDA and keep your mouth shut. No one except your lawyers, advisor, and spouse needs to know the true amount.
200bn makes you one of the richest people on the planet, the fact its already liquid cash means you likely are the wealthiest person on the planet as no one else would be able to sell enough shares to get that much money without pushing their own shares value down.
From the sound of it on this thread the first thing id do is rejoice not being in the us and subject to seizures or gift tax. The second thing is querying with my bank why a state has transferred 20% of the gov annual budget to my personal account or more likely address whatever software bug has led to this. I would expect the bank to be noticing this before I do and to jave locked my accounts pending investigation.
The short term thing I do is stuff as much of it as I can into accounts paying interest so when its corrected I can keep the interest.
If its a genuine transfer and im keeping it not sure what happens next other than my bank being very friendly about new accounts they can offer, for such a large bumber im going to need a wealth management team to take it on.
In you'd almost certainly be investigated by the anti-money laundering team of the bank, who's probably pass it onto the police.
You'd not hear about it for a while because they'd do a chunk of prep work before asking you any questions.
Mystery money showing up "without a trace" is a computer error and would be treated as such. An individual person can't just invent money. It starts from somewhere. The person who owns the account wouldn't be the one getting in trouble, but you also wouldn't be able to keep the money.
Realistically I'm seeing if something happened and if they are looking for it. Don't wanna get caught up with the law or anything illegal. Have them leave me 10% for not ratting them out if it is illegal.
From there I'm building jobs around my siblings and myself. My brother's a doctor, boom the perfect hospital that can run at cost. As an example.
Presumably if it just appeared in your bank with no record of any transfer from anywhere or anyone altering your balance, it would be written off as a software glitch and removed again.
Before anyone can know what happened except maybe me and the bank all of it is immediately going into cancer research because if I had that amount of money I wouldn't know what to do with it so I just probably put it all in cancer research or a passion project
First thing Iād do is transfer it to a different bank account, well a couple. Then Iād go show the world how fast I can spend a couple billion, Iād be in the genius book of world records.
200 billion? Oh, the government is making sure I, and everyone I could leave it to, dies, mysteriously. And the treasury ends up with it.
If not the government, the bank would take it as it's 'illegal earnings' or something.
TL;DR You wouldn't get to keep that money.
Assuming itās not ill gotten gains then you couldnāt be incarcerated unless you were trying to hide it from the govt. The irs would audit you extensively and you would probably be an instant celebrity and the subject of many conspiracies. But at the end of the day all they can do is tax you in your new income bracket. Afterwards you would still have a good amount of billions left over. Which could put an entire family into generational wealth as long as you arenāt stupid
Iād be able to pay off the Australian dept aith this amount of money Iād probably be the next prime minister too lol even if I have no intention to do so.
It would be red flagged and investigated for money laundering. If you were allowed to keep it, youād eventually be visited by a man in a suit and that money would be closely followed and traced.
Pretty sure we would vanish the second it was discovered, along with all that money...
If the government or bank doesn't get us, there's plenty of people who would see some random person with all this money and no security and grab it while it's vulnerable. While it would sound good to suddenly become one of the richest people on the planet, we wouldn't have the framework in place other super rich people have in place to protect themselves physically or financially, plus the mysterious way you got it would raise so many questions.
I'd give it a few weeks before we're dead, locked up, or just vanished, then that money finds it's way into the pockets of those who were your peers for a few days.
If I had $200 Billion dollars, I would end homelessness and hunger in at least America. Iād keep $500 million for my wife and I to live comfortably the rest of our lives, but the rest gets given out to those who need it the most.
I wouldnāt care about the other aspects. Finders keepers. Someone made a mistake in my favor. Spend it and hide it before they come for it.
You contact the bank and assess what is going on. If itās a mistake, they will correct on the spot. You donāt want to start spending and then āuhh you owe us moneyā
As long as I pay my taxes on it, the government can F off. Given what I've posted online what I would do with a very large sum of money, I'd expect certain local and state government types to try to take me out.
I would...
ā¢ use a small portion of it to secure myself and those I care about a comfortable life.
ā¢ endow certain local and regional nonprofits with enough for them to operate indefinitely as long as they were financially responsible with their budgets.
ā¢ build high schools and other schools in my county and build them right. Our county commissioners ALWAYS screw over the schools. And, I would make sure I insulted the county government every chance I got.
ā¢ Replace the county funded public library with one meant to do its job and one that would be perpetually independent. It would have branches in the outlying communities and an endowment large enough so the interest would fund it and employees. I would also use this opportunity to insult the county government, and maybe certain public activists, too.
ā¢ create my own transit system in my county. The county government already has one, but it is worse than useless. This would be one people would be willing to use to take back and forth to work, school, and shopping. I would overendow it and make the usage of it affordable.
There are other projects I would pursue, but those are private affairs with public benefits.
Iād tell my coworkers, but keep my job for a few months just freak them out. Iād show off my new used car with only 80k miles on it that I purchased with my $200 billion. Iād still bring a peanut butter sandwich to work. Refuse to shave because ārazors cost moneyā. Good times.
Assuming everything goes swimmingly, id buy a neighborhood for my friends and family.
Then start a foundation for friends and family to work at/with.
That probably doesnāt even scratch the surface of the money
I live in the US, I will suddenly become Christian and tell whoever knocks on my door that it is gift from god, to disbelieve so is discriminating of my religion. I will pay tax. Then I will move out to wherever country I feel like. The new country donāt have reason to do anything because these money are now considered as my savings occurred in the US.
It would all be seized by the government because you'd be suspected of a crime. And because you'd have no money to defend yourself, you'd lose it.
This happens to people over much lower amounts of money. All it takes to trigger an alert is $10,000. Innumerable people have had that (or more) stolen by police and never had it returned.
Nigerian prince finally came through.....
My man. Thank you kindly.
Import/Export
exactly! Vandalay Industries takes care of that.
About fricken time. I've been waiting years for that wire transfer.
sorry it took me so long I had to set a few things straight
Brother in Christ. This comment slapps so hard.
Never know with god šš
I knew that fax was on the up and up.
Hold up! I thought I was his only heir! We must be related somehow
I got you, just had to find my wallet
Yeah IRS would probably have some questions, to say the least. But if it's unknown and untraceable, they should also have a significant amount of questions for your bank for having no idea how that money got put in your account.
Naw, the IRS has one question. "Where's our cut?" So long as you pay your taxes the IRS doesn't give a shit how you got the money. Other government agencies on the other hand...
Pretty much this, IRS could give a crap how you got it just that they got their cut. Now FBI may want to have a chat with you.
Saul: It's the tax man. And he's looking at you. Now, what does he see? He sees a young fellow with a big fancy house, unlimited cash supply and no job. Now, what is the conclusion the tax man makes? Jesse: ...I'm a drug dealer? Saul: Err! Wrong! Million times worse! You're a tax cheat!
Lmfao I love when shows I love are applicable. Don't forget they brought Al Capone down on tax evasion
Uncle Sam will forgive a lot if youāre rich enough but only if you make sure he gets his cut.
But somehow if youāre *really* rich enough, you donāt have to pay (as much in) taxes again.
That's because they just pay the politicians directly
That's half of it. Pay politicians to make tax exemptions and loopholes then pay accountants to find them.
Nah, that's cuz IRS only taxes revenue. If your assets appreciate they don't become revenue until sold. (It's even in the name btw)
There's so much to explain as to how/why billionaires don't pay taxes and they're honestly not paying off politicians. It's perfectly legal. For parts of the year billionaires actually don't have much liquid cash, it's all in assets which aren't taxed just like some of regular people's. It's not taxed until they make that cash liquid which is why they don't get taxed. It would take an hour to explain how it's all legal without lobbying but I don't have that time.
Legal doesnāt mean good, right, or fair though and that is why people complain about it.
Got my uncle on tax evasion too
That kind of money will be involving the Treasury department, IRS, DHS, and FBI at a minimum... BUT as to OP's question: Assuming you can defend the money against seizure you'll be writing a $74bn check to the IRS for taxes (technically slightly lower because of the progressive tax brackets, but that's a rounding error at numbers like this), a check to your state tax authority if there is state income tax, and then enjoying the remainder in a non-FDIC insured account (again technically it's insured, but that's a rounding error again).
just open up 464,000 new accounts with $250,000 each in them???
I mean, that's valid... but a hell of a lot of work.
$80bn gift tax is more likely.
fair enough... but what's $6bn among friends? lol.
Yeah but you don't have to pay that, the person giving you the money does.
Generally yes, but Irc 6324(b) imposes gift tax liability on the donee for any unpaid tax.
"Eh hem.. the 'IRS couldn't give a crap'" āļøš¤, seriously though the irs is just there for the money.
Crime pays, as long as the IRS gets it's cut... Watch the Fat Electrician and his explanation: [The IRS & Crime](https://youtu.be/fzZ-itX6loM?si=L-sycXGFV6gdbl15)
Na the FBI would look into things but there is no wrong doing. So they can dig and dig and dig and dig some more. Nothing will happen. You could literally get a cease and desist on them. There is no wrong doing, so they can fuck off.
The IRS will want to know. They may refer your case to the FBI if they suspect something illegal happened. But for this sum of money they wonāt just take your tax money and move on. Especially because if that money did come from something illegal the entire sum may be subject to seizure. Thereās no way they would ignore this.
The IRS literally has rules and (I believe) forms for reporting and calculating taxes on illegal income. They will tell the FBI that they should investigate but that is as far as the IRS will go.
Hi there, I deal with the IRS as part of my job. If you report $200,000,000,000 of illegal income, you're getting audited, 100% They're just gonna bring the FBI along because a criminal worth that much would be assumed very dangerous. The IRS always wants their cut but they absolutely do want to know where it's coming from. If anything, the first time you file they might assume it's a typo and reject it.
Audited means they want to make sure you're reporting the correct amount not whether it's legal or not. Right?
Kind of. They check to make sure everything lines up but part of that is also to determine if it's illegal. The audit is like a car inspection or a search warrant. It exists to get someone with a keen eye looking to see if any money can be made off you. But an audit might actually be welcome in this case because you want to claim the money as rightfully yours so you'll want to cooperate with the IRS and do everything by the books. Pay your ~$74,000,000,000 in taxes and retire early knowing that you have paid enough in taxes to basically get a permanent spot in the Guinness book of world records.
Exactly. They'll make sure they get their proper cut but as far as legality they'll check but ultimately they'll hand their suspicions over to another agency.
Thatās not what the other poster is saying. And the point I was making was exactly what they are saying which is that the IRS will absolutely want to know where the money came from which they will do through the form of an audit. To claim that theyāll just close their eyes and take a cut (with the implication that they are a greedy organization who just wants money) is ridiculous and naive. The government, writ large, will want to know where this money came from. That goes for Local, State, and Federal Governments. The audit will determine if the money was potentially obtained illegally and could results in referrals to other agencies including, but not limited to, the FBI.
Nope š The IRS has its own investigators. They will refer if they think something illegal happened. But they might refer you to the SEC or FBI or some other agency. But not before they dig in for sure. They definitely wonāt just take the taxes out and move on.
Redditors again just saying shit. No, they are going to ask where it came from because that affects taxable rates and the size of their cut. I just had to respond to an inquiry about where some of my income came from because of just that very fact.
I don't know which agency but you'd think at least they would be questioning some kind of money laundering
Doesn't the US have laws on the books that let them seize money if you can't prove where it came from or give a reasonable explanation. It's been a couple of years, but I remember it happening to people at traffic stops when they had thousands in cash b/c they were on their way to buy a car. I think they'd default to "there's no legal way you got that money, so we're taking it". [https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/03/23/jerry-johnson-arizona-police-civil-asset-forfeiture/11532462002/](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/03/23/jerry-johnson-arizona-police-civil-asset-forfeiture/11532462002/) [https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2023/12/20/rotten-core-cash-seizures-are-now-focus-congress/](https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2023/12/20/rotten-core-cash-seizures-are-now-focus-congress/)
Yea youād have some forms to fill out to explain how you got the money so they could tax out properly. Since you canāt explain how you got out, the assumption is that it was illegal. Thatās not enough to convict for anything but itās plenty enough for them to take the money from you
Iirc, that wasn't the IRS that seizes that money, but police. Police do this all over the country. Civil asset forfiture. They just steal your money and add it to their budget. The justification is ostensibly that who else but someone involved in an illegal enterprise would carry large sums of money on their person? So if they find a large sum of money on your person, they very well may just seize it, and good luck ever getting it back.
Iād assume itād be taxed as a gift and theyād be cool with it.
Yeah but at the end of they day they will give 0 fucks it you just pay the taxes on it. They would love their cut! To OP I would just keep living life. Look into an accessible home for me and mine, two nice cars, one for me and her. Keep my current car and restore it and do the 3.5 manual swap on it. And realisticly keep my modest lifestyle I have now and live on interest. Definitely some things I would splurge on, but most would be part of the custom home. Otherwise it would just be traveling. The IRS would love me for being honest so my years would be filled with fun and enjoyment.
Bank deletes it as obviously an error. Then closes my account for 'suspect behaviour'
They can't let anyone have fun can they
This would absolutely happen if it was a PayPal account.
Paypal would also only let you withdraw about Ā£500/week tops, so they effectively get to keep almost all of the money forever.
For $200 billion, I might be able to buy PayPal.
Wonder PayPal accepts PayPal to buy PayPal?
What's stopping you making a transaction instead?
Thatās the most realistic outcome
Obvious error. Rightly so. If they can't trace it back to an account that held that money, that money never existed.
right after trying to make that normal $200 purchase which they always freeze for security purposes. it's to keep you safe!!...no it's to prevent people from spending the banks' money as long as possible. always remember possession is 9/10ths of the law.
You'd pay an insane amount of taxes and would be a massive news story across the world. The government could choose to investigate the money, but if it's truly untraceable they would never be able to find anything to hold against you. A massive deposit like that definitely looks suspicious, but you can't be arrested just cause someone doesn't understand where you got money. It's not against the law. Worst case scenario, you tell everyone you have no clue where it's from and they figure it's some kind of glitch in the system. So you end up getting to keep none of it.
>you can't be arrested just cause someone doesn't understand where you got the money That's where you're wrong.
If no one can figure out where the money came from, no transaction, no cash deposit, no check exchange, then no, No one would get arrested, as that would simply be an error in the account and would get fixed. If it's coming from a different account they can't identify, then it's handcuff time, but that's changing the scenario.
In a world where government actually followed the law that would be true. Realistically the government would just hold that money forever for the smallest bs reasons and find ways to pocket it. And use some of that money to pay some mercās to harass the individual. If they can take away peoples bodily autonomy then this should be a piece of cake for them to handle.
200 billion and you think the CIA wont find a way to just take it all? They will absolutely make something up and frame you ill bet
And now hereās contemporary actress Pamela Anderson. āHello. I would like to order a cheese pizza and large sodaā *everyone stares intensely*
1077, just like my pin code!
100%. Anyone who thinks otherwise literally doesn't know anything about how predatory the government is.
You are 100% but I woudnt even call it predatory. They have no reason to trust you that hundreds of billions can magically appear, they have every reason to believe that this is a criminal operation of an unseen scale that could literary threaten National security so they are going to use all means to find or make up answers, including extrajudicial ones
Money is power. If any sort of agency tried to baselessly jail you or take it all, you could fight them on that hard. With their current funding, it would take a literal lifetime for the CIA to gather $200 billion, and thats assuming they save every penny they get just to use it against you
you don't have the money, your bank does. if your bank account got frozen you can't use the money to fight agencies
This. It's not cash in hand, it's in the bank, which unless you have a Grand Cayman or Swiss Bank account, that money will be frozen the moment they start to investigate you. They do that specially for the purposes of limiting your resources to fight against their investigation.
You do realize once you're in jail and have your assets frozen you can't hire a lawyer, right? And the government wouldn't have a hard time fighting you because they make the rules.
The CIA only deals with international matters, and it's not a law enforcement agency. Now, the FBI is another story, and if there is reason to believe that this is related to funding terrorism or some other foreign crime, the FBI would probably bring the CIA in on it.
The CIA? Do you think they're a gang of thieves? They're funded by the US government they're not gonna rob random billionaires for pennies
Theyāre a gang of murderers, why wouldnāt they be thieves too? They steal shit all the time
Your first big purchase with your new found money is almost certainly lawyers to help you keep it.Ā
It would probably be considered a system error and deleted lol. I can't imagine that transfers that are that large could be handled by the system automatically, it would almost certainly require review by a human before being allowed to complete so it just showing up in the account without a human approving it would more than likely cause it to be judged as a system error.
I suppose for this to happen, hypothetically someone with that kind of money could just pick a person at random to donate to, then go through all the processes for that without that persons knowledge or consent. I say consent because I donāt know how many people would accept that kind of money and the trouble that would come with it. That, and Iām sure the authorities would want to ask the recipient a whole lot of questions.
A deposit of 200 billion could only come from a handful of sources. Even if it were untraceable it would be pretty obvious who sent it.
Grandma?
Probably the Nigerian Prince who promised to pay me back in 2012
I'd find the best accountant and lawyer I could find, explain the situation, and let them decide the next course of action.
That's about your best bet TBH. Assuming you get to "keep" the money then the accountant writes a $74bn check to the IRS and whatever is needed to your state and you're set.
Which will be to write them a check for half of it, no doubt.
That's like a bankrupting amount of cash to have, even for the US. I'm not sure what the government would do, but I'd gradually try to acquire my own country. lol
This guy spends in govt dollars. That's like ten days of operating expenses for the US govt. It's like a year's worth of necessary operating expenses.
Wow. I remember back around 2008 or later, Apple had more cash than the US government did.
I am reasonably sure that any remotely competent bank that noticed and increase that large would immediately freeze the funds and tell you that it was obviously an error. If the money just appeared, or even if it were transferred in from a mystery source, there's no real way to guarantee those funds. The money in your bank account is imaginary. It's just based on a promise that someone else has a promise. If there were some sort of cash deposit made in that amount, it would still absolutely be frozen and your bank may fight you on it a bit, but it's most likely that they are going to end up releasing most of it to you in a few weeks to a few months. They wouldn't really be able to keep it from you outside of reporting it to relevant agencies and charging you processing fees for a deposit that large. Your best chance in dealing with the feds would be claiming that it was a gift from an anonymous source and not spending any of that money outside of the US for at least a few years. Also, immediately retain the services of a lawyer and a fiduciary. The chances that a mystery amount of money that high would end up in civil asset forfeiture proceedings is pretty high and you are almost definitely not equipped to handle that. I can very easily see several different types of law enforcement agencies that would do their best to seize that money, transfer it to another agency, and then give you multiple layers of courts and months of litigation in order to get any of it back.
Yes, the bank would freeze it immediately. I went to the bank and told them I was going to purchase a motorcycle on my credit card, got everything oked and cleared, proved I had the money and so on. I go to buy the bike, run the card and immediately they froze my account and it took me two hours on the phone to get them to let me spend the money. I get that's a protection against fraud, but it just shows you how quickly they will freeze an account. The amount by the way was $4700, a fair bit less than 200,000,000,000.
Shit like this actually does happen.Maybe not necessarily 200B but an obscene amount of money without notice and no clue to how or why it got there. It's almost always a routing error or accidental transfer and in which case you will be required to pay it back if you spend any. Unless I had a guarantee it wouldn't go away I wouldn't touch it at all.
First you report it to the bank as an error, because if you don't know the source that is what you should assume. There might be a small news story about the error, but at this point the news will all say that the account is frozen pending investigation and you will be inconvenienced by not having your bank account during this time. Bank transactions are all double entry, so for there to be $200 Billion in your account, there MUST be a $200 Billion Withdrawal somewhere else. (I would say that there could be $200 Billion in cash, but that much cash has not been printed.) If there is literally no trace of the deposit origin, it wold be considered an error and corrected back to your initial balance. However, in the spirit of your question, let's say it didn't come from nowhere, but came from multiple anonymous Swiss bank accounts combined with some bitcoin sales and other sources that can be verified but are still anonymous. They all have the memo line "gift". Now things get interesting. In theory, you the recipient of the gift are not liable for income on the gift, but the people who sent it ARE. But these people are unknown and untraceable. The IRS might try to take the tax out of your gift, they might not. You'll need a decent lawyer, although I would personally instruct the lawyer to let the government tax it as income, as I would be perfectly happy having just the remainder, provided the payment is delayed until it is sure that the transactions cannot be reversed. Then, with $126 Billion clear money, I would invest the $100 Billion in an index fund for growth. I would invest the $26 billion in a smaller fund and live lavishly off the interest. Once the growth fund has doubled (Approx 10 years) to $200 billion I would send it anonymously to a random bank account.
You can't get money from an 'unknown untraceable source'. It has to be transferred from somewhere. So assuming it just magically appeared in your bank account, they'd assume it was a glitch or hack and investigate you and you'd never see a cent.
I don't think banking transactions work like that. There would need to be some record of the source, otherwise the bank would assume it is an error and I wouldn't get anything. Did somebody just arrive with a dump truck full of cash?
I probably lose it to government seizure. I imagine they don't fuck around. Though also since money is all digital it could probably just be deleted by the bank with some overhead approval? I actually don't know.
Surely injecting a random $200 Billion into "circulation" would lead to some pretty significant inflation considering that's more money than several countries' GDPs.
Thatās if itās injected out of nowhere, that amount would severely impact a countries economy for sure, but if it was transferred, as in, the money already exists and was just taken from one place and put in another, then you donāt have that issue. You just suddenly have a lot of new best friends and long lost family members appearing.
After confirming with the bank that it was not an error you would contact the IRS and let them decide how much you owe them in taxes. Idk what the tax rate is on gifts but I think that is how it will be taxed if it truly was from a random source. After that the money is yours.
I'll change the scenario. Rather than mysterious, untraceable money, imagine that Elon Musk signed over nearly all his assets to you. (Musk kept a few billion dollars for himself.) It's weird, but totally above board and honest. You worked with lawyers and accountants, and the IRS and pay taxes, as needed. You have $100 billion spread across various government bonds, US & international stocks, and other fungible assets. What do you do with the money?
I'm a dragon now. We don't do anything with the money.
Musk or another super multi billionaire died and in there will for some strange reason they liquidate their assets and give that much to you
All of the banking and legal regulations and rules would go out the window on something like this. Think of the Atlanta Olympics bombing. That guy was innocent and yet got blamed and slandered and it ruined his life. If you had 200 billion dollars suddenly, the media, the government, and public opinion would all be focused on you and you would certainly be damaged or destroyed from all the sudden changes in your life and privacy. You would be the third richest person in the world. Also, 200 billion could only possibly come from a few places, and it would be pretty easily figureoutable. Now it's time to read "The Pearl" by John Steinbeck.
I report it immediately as an anonymous donation made to me and I pay the taxes on it. Then I build a small kingdom.
I'd have a castle that's designed with massive stone blocks for exterior structures, but the interior is a mansion with large rooms designed for hosting parties, with servant's hallways inside the walls between the rooms. The whole place would be kept under recorded video surveillance but would otherwise be largely open to the public at all hours. I'd make it feel as much as possible like a medieval castle but with modern comforts. I'd keep a few medieval knightly chaps as bouncers and let the real security hide in the walls or in the security office watching the video feeds. Beyond the castle courtyard would be a small town, with one person from every profession necessary to make the town self sufficient. And the whole place would be powered by a molten salt nuclear reactor or whatever the latest and greatest model may exceed the efficiency and safety of that model. Also under the castle would absolutely be a massive bunker complex similar to a fallout vault-tek vault.
I doubt I'd get to keep it. Got to protect the Bourgeois monopoly on wealth, can't have random Proles gaining that kind of power. When a poor person does it, it's a crime, you see.
Bank freezes the account because there is no one on planet Earth who has ever had even 1 quarter of that in cash at any one time
Doesn't matter. I take whoever tries to get between and that money to court. And keep going until I hit SCOTUS. They vote for me to have my money. Five of nine Justices get nice vacation homes "gifted" to them through various non profit agencies
Honestly Iād contact the highest level of IRS I can get and explain the situation and how if the money is deemed real/legitimate and then ask how Iād go about giving the IRS their cut and then using the rest. Even if the IRS took 99% that leaves me with 2 billion dollars which is enough to create GENERATIONAL wealth
Wanted to originally be a filmmaker. I would use the money to make 10 $500 million extravagant commercially leaning art films with bleeding edge special effects and fresh scripts from originally conceived novels that I would myself with the help of the most experienced writers. I would release them all in curved screen IMAXes worldwide. That would be adequate compensation to make films as good as JC or SK did considering they were born naturally gifted and precocious and I wasn't. The rest I would put somewhere in a bank in a tax haven country.Ā
Realistically. LMFAO. And if it did happen, I'd eat something other than a fucking ramen.
I would set my husband a doctorās appointment.
Iām paying all the taxes on it first. Then Iām paying off all of my debt and my wifeās debt. Then Iāll put in 2 weeks notice at my job. Then Iād hire a certified financial advisor. Iād invest. Iād start looking for land to build ohr dream house on in our preferred location. Then weād go shopping for other homes in different countries we plan on frequenting. Iād get a new car. Get my wife a car. Hire a daily personal health chef and trainer and a maid service. And that about sums it up.
You just got 200B, and you are still going to serve your 2 weeks? That is some real dedication I can respect.
LOL I really do like my team. I wouldnāt want to leave them hanging.
I would immediately contact my bank and the IRS for as much information as possible.
Iād immediately hire a ācriminalā lawyer.
There would be a lot of independently owned businesses suddenly being invested in
Ā Do enough good for the world to sit around and wonder, who did all this.Ā I love mastery, and believe its ideal for creative minds.Ā
As others have alluded to, I'd contact the IRS. The last thing I need is them to put an auditor up my ass. I think I could reasonably expect to remain a diminished billionaire after the fact, so I'm not worried.
Realistically, Iād hire someone immediately to make sure Iām in the clear and taxes are sorted. Start an LLC to hold the funds in various accounts and live comfortably off the interest and dividends. Donate regularly to limit my tax liability, also maybe invest in peopleās ideas like shark tank but less risk averse.
You get half of it taken in taxes immediately.
I'd get audited
I'm leaving my parents' house and never looking back.
I'd flip out and call the IRS and explain that I have no clue where it came from.
I dunno. I do know I would immediately report the money to the IRS and other authorities.
Very simple. I declare it to the IRS, allow them to do their investigation after paying off some short term debt, and once they conclude nothing illegal was happening, I pay my taxes and enjoy the 100 some odd billion dollars I have after that.
Dang bro, look on the bright side a little. If something good happens to you totally outside your control, pay it forward.
There is a 20% income tax, so Iād have to pay $40 billion, which leaves me with $160 billion. I would first make my village, and I would invite my friends and family to live in rent-free homes, Iād provide everything for them. I would then decide to help others who are homeless, Iād prioritise vets, and I would also set up my own care homes for children who need somewhere to live. Iād then probably enjoy life and do whatever the hell I want. There isnāt much else to do with that kind of money.
Withdraw the cash, leave the country and live like the world's richest gypsy king!
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
You'll never know.
First off, I question how the bank itself has no idea how it got there.Ā If the bank doesn't freeze my account, and tells me that the money is mine, I then contact a tax lawyer, cause I'm about to need to make one hell of a payment to the IRS.
I imagine I'll be killed by whoever lost 200 billion dollars
Nothing bad after you pay government their half
Time to buy gold and stock property and buildings and probably a few countries.
I'd leave it alone for 7 years and then assuming no-one had claimed it back (through the bank) I'd get to keep it. If anyone does claim it (and it can be verified that they sent it by mistake) then they get it back plus any interest earned. (Not in US (or US citizen and for this amount I'd happily renounce my citizenship if I had one) so IRS etc are irrelevant.) That said for this amount I suspect the account would just be locked and they'd remove whole amount as an error or oversight, I don't think normal banks can handle this sort of cash in normal accounts.
All of a sudden so many schools would get better, a new crop of people who came from modest beginnings but have done great social/scientific/educational work come into the political fray with strong financial backing, longtime residents of previously redlined now gentrifying neighbourhoods would have their mortgages paid, and GoFundMe stories about people pleading to live because they canāt afford treatment effectively gets eliminated. Thatād just be my first year
The bank would probably call you. If it just "appears out of nowhere" then they might just delete it and do nothing else but if it shows up as an actual bank transfer or deposit, they can't just delete it. They would be making a lot of phone calls and eventually that shit-avalanche will catch up to you and you'll be getting a lot of phone calls. So lawyer up first. If that money is real money and an origin is unknown, that is your money. Get the best lawyer you can find and then hire his worst enemy too. You're gonna need a great legal team and you can afford the best. Next is to update your security. You need a cyber security team to monitor this liquid capital until you can diversify it. But that'll be after you fight the courts to get them to return the money to you. I'm not saying this will work. All I'm saying is I think it's your best shot at making it work.
I would start buying properties and CD's. I would set up a trust to manage everything so the principle could not be touched ever. I would create generational wealth so my family would be taken care of after my passing. For fun I would open an FFL 07 SOT gun shop with a range to keep myself busy. I would hire an army of accountants to ensure everything was good to go.
If I pay taxes on it the US government might not care if it isnāt illegal, wouldnāt that be like 40% in taxes? I think I might move a few billion off shore just in case, to a place who doesnāt extradite to the USA.
Disappear
Iād contact my bank first and make sure of its legitimacy. Iād probably then hire/create some sort of investment LLC and get them to deal with $198 billion of it while getting paid a percentage of the profits accrued (probably equal to about $10 million per year or something really small) and keeping $2 billion for personal interests. I absolutely donāt need more than this, and even this would be excessive.
Straight to jail.. seriously, there would be no way this wouldn't be seized then you investigated and banged up while they root through your life and find a reason to imprison you Occam's Razor would be in effect in their minds.
Everything I ever wanted?
I'd still go clothes shopping at Costco
Would buy enough politicians to keep the IRS off my back immediately.
I'm going to JAAAAIIILLLL!!!
I immediately buy Bitcoin before the bank fixes whatever went wrong, and I leave the country for one that has no extradition.
You'd definately undergo an investigation by every government agency ever. that I can say with certanity.
This kind of did happen. A woman found her bank balance to be in the millions. It was later found out to be an error so the bank reversed the balance back to what it was IIRC. I guess the bank would simply reverse the transaction if this did happen in real life.
Instantly become the richest man in canada. Growing up poor and knowing how shit it is, start up a new housing interest. Buy up as much land and housing as I possibly can and start renting it out to low income people for dirt cheap and hope this drives housing prices into the ground. This is the ultimate win, since it changes the lives of the most needy and screws over the richest assholes who have been slowly raising housing costs over the last 20 years.
Im doing silly stuff uwu
I would buy Taco Bell from Yum! Foods, and use the rest of the money to upgrade the entire franchise into decent restaurants.
I'd wake up
I assume the government would send someone.
200 billion would be an international incident. It wouldn't be *just* your country's tax agency, it'd be Interpol, forensic accountants, systems analysts. Your bank would be dissected piece by piece to work out how this could happen and your funds would be immediately frozen until an investigation had been conducted. 200 billion is enough to cause very serious problems for your banks profitability though interest alone. I doubt Ol baldy spaceman has 200 Billion just sitting in a bank account.
I pay off my debts and those of all my family and friends. I buy a huge amount of land and start the school I've always dreamt of creating. And I hire an assassin to... change the American political situation.
Youād have to report it. Hopefully, after some investigation, theyād let you keep it after taxing it.
The FBI would pay me a visit. My bank would freeze my account. Itās very likely the assets would be seized by the government as evidence of a crime and I would never see them again even if not convicted.
First, contact a financial investment or law firm. Of that money, make sure to pay every fee and tax necessary. Aside from maybe three million dollars, have the rest invested in every legal and beneficial way the investment firm knows. Why three million? One million is specifically for any debts you may have. Any and all. The financial firm can likely give you a great list of them. You might have a lot of money, but donāt be afraid to hire someone to lessen the debt amount. There are specialists for that. If you have money left over in this million, go to the best hospital you can find and make sure youāre healthy. Second million should be broken down to $20k or $50k bundles for personal charities, family or friends who could use it. Never give another penny after that to these people. Third million is your fun money. Vacations, parties, all the dumb fun stuff you wanted to always do. Keep it cheap and you can effectively retire off this million alone. If you cut away as many luxuries as possible, you can travel light and never worry about things like rent or utilities while enjoying travel. That would be me, at least. As few people would know I have money as possible. The money invested would pay residuals over the rest of my life, which Iād likely make into more charity bundles. Taxes and fees every year would come out of my residuals as well. Iād just get a decent pickup truck, drive to different camping areas across America, live relatively free. Help others out from time to time. Aside from my ID and a very plain looking credit card, Iād have almost nothing to my name aside from what I need immediately. Complete gray man living.
First I'm calling my bank to make sure it's not just an error with their website, then I'm immediately retaining legal counsel with the assumption that I will need to report this to some sort of government agency. If I get to actually keep it (doubtful), I don't touch it until after I file and pay my taxes, for which I hire a tax attorney to make sure I pay what I need to at the correct time and everything is correct on my return, assuming I'm almost certainly going to be audited. Once the IRS has accepted my return, I give my mom, siblings, grandparents, and best friend $1B each and go no-contact with pretty much everyone else in my life. The first thing I'm buying for myself with the money will be a really neat hat
This feels real
The powers that be would quickly find a way to relieve you of your sudden "problem" I'm sure.
Well, the first thing to do is contact the bank immediately and tell them that you don't know where the deposit came from. Do NOT say that the money isn't yours, because if it is, then you just lost out on a fortune. This is a matter where they have to investigate and determine if the deposit was made illegally or erroneously. Either way, the bank will likely freeze your account while they investigate. At $200 billion dollars, that investigation is going to rapidly escalate to the international level, and they will investigate every aspect of the matter, including a very deep dive into the bank personnel and the account holder and their families, friends, and anyone they know. Once they determine that the money can't be traced back to anyone and wasn't part of illegal activities (so far as they can tell), there's a real chance that you can keep it. You will have to pay taxes on it, of course, and you will most likely be under government scrutiny for the rest of your life. That's the financial/legal side of it. Now, let's look at the darker side of things. Given that this is something that will reach international levels, the likelihood of you being outed as a newly-minted billionaire quickly approaches 100% due to the sheer number of channels all this has to go through and the number of people involved. Someone's gonna run their mouth. Whether or not you actually get to keep the money, you will likely need to change your identity (or take a LOT of precautions if you get the money) because everyone who has ever known you even tangentially (along with a metric assload of complete strangers) will be gunning for that money. Family, friends, exes, work colleagues, people from third grade, your neighbors, hell, anyone will turn into a greedy, manipulative asshat when a lot of money is on the line. Your love life is going to get very complicated very soon. You will be a huge target for gold diggers, blackmailers, and pregnancy scams. You will be accused of sexual assault and miraculously be able to avoid criminal charges if you agree to settle out of court. All that wonderful nonsense. You will become the target of corrupt police who will look for any reason whatsoever to pull you over, search your property, all that jazz, and you will become quite familiar with the term "civil forfeiture." In short, your world is going to be turned upside down for the rest of your life, whether or not you get to keep the money.
Well first, my wife would slap me upside the head and ask me what illegal shit I was into that made this happen... Then I'd book a trip to play the old course, and the other iconic courses over there.
IRS would tax it, freeze the account. Probably seize it until you could prove it was lawfully attained.
Hmmmm...... I wonder what would happen if I bought $200 billion worth of Dogecoin. *proceeds to buy $200 billion in Dogecoin*
The first thing would be to hire a tax attorney and financial advisor. Make sure the taxes are paid and a trust is set up. Make everyone involved sign an NDA and keep your mouth shut. No one except your lawyers, advisor, and spouse needs to know the true amount.
I donāt have a bank account. Iāll take it in cash please
200bn makes you one of the richest people on the planet, the fact its already liquid cash means you likely are the wealthiest person on the planet as no one else would be able to sell enough shares to get that much money without pushing their own shares value down. From the sound of it on this thread the first thing id do is rejoice not being in the us and subject to seizures or gift tax. The second thing is querying with my bank why a state has transferred 20% of the gov annual budget to my personal account or more likely address whatever software bug has led to this. I would expect the bank to be noticing this before I do and to jave locked my accounts pending investigation. The short term thing I do is stuff as much of it as I can into accounts paying interest so when its corrected I can keep the interest. If its a genuine transfer and im keeping it not sure what happens next other than my bank being very friendly about new accounts they can offer, for such a large bumber im going to need a wealth management team to take it on.
IRS? No idea why a US agency would be hunting me down! HMRC would likely be inquisitive though.
Realistic, the bank will erase the money citing it as a computer error. Money, esp $200billion cannot just come from nowhere.
Well i am gonna abuse a lot of the million of ways that big time guys fuck the tax system over.
In you'd almost certainly be investigated by the anti-money laundering team of the bank, who's probably pass it onto the police. You'd not hear about it for a while because they'd do a chunk of prep work before asking you any questions.
Mystery money showing up "without a trace" is a computer error and would be treated as such. An individual person can't just invent money. It starts from somewhere. The person who owns the account wouldn't be the one getting in trouble, but you also wouldn't be able to keep the money.
The central bankers would track down their error and then have me killed
Realistically I'm seeing if something happened and if they are looking for it. Don't wanna get caught up with the law or anything illegal. Have them leave me 10% for not ratting them out if it is illegal. From there I'm building jobs around my siblings and myself. My brother's a doctor, boom the perfect hospital that can run at cost. As an example.
Anything that I say would be taken very seriously by āvery serious people.ā
Presumably if it just appeared in your bank with no record of any transfer from anywhere or anyone altering your balance, it would be written off as a software glitch and removed again.
Government steals it
Quickly move it to another account, Then buy both EA games, Microsoft and Disney. And mark it down as a loss of income so it cant be taxed.
Before anyone can know what happened except maybe me and the bank all of it is immediately going into cancer research because if I had that amount of money I wouldn't know what to do with it so I just probably put it all in cancer research or a passion project
First thing Iād do is transfer it to a different bank account, well a couple. Then Iād go show the world how fast I can spend a couple billion, Iād be in the genius book of world records.
200 billion? Oh, the government is making sure I, and everyone I could leave it to, dies, mysteriously. And the treasury ends up with it. If not the government, the bank would take it as it's 'illegal earnings' or something. TL;DR You wouldn't get to keep that money.
Uncle Sam can fuck right off. I'm buying citizenship in a country with no extradition and getting the heck out with all of it.
Assuming itās not ill gotten gains then you couldnāt be incarcerated unless you were trying to hide it from the govt. The irs would audit you extensively and you would probably be an instant celebrity and the subject of many conspiracies. But at the end of the day all they can do is tax you in your new income bracket. Afterwards you would still have a good amount of billions left over. Which could put an entire family into generational wealth as long as you arenāt stupid
Iād be able to pay off the Australian dept aith this amount of money Iād probably be the next prime minister too lol even if I have no intention to do so.
It would be red flagged and investigated for money laundering. If you were allowed to keep it, youād eventually be visited by a man in a suit and that money would be closely followed and traced.
Pretty sure we would vanish the second it was discovered, along with all that money... If the government or bank doesn't get us, there's plenty of people who would see some random person with all this money and no security and grab it while it's vulnerable. While it would sound good to suddenly become one of the richest people on the planet, we wouldn't have the framework in place other super rich people have in place to protect themselves physically or financially, plus the mysterious way you got it would raise so many questions. I'd give it a few weeks before we're dead, locked up, or just vanished, then that money finds it's way into the pockets of those who were your peers for a few days.
Again? I'm running out of places to put all this $$$.
If I had $200 Billion dollars, I would end homelessness and hunger in at least America. Iād keep $500 million for my wife and I to live comfortably the rest of our lives, but the rest gets given out to those who need it the most. I wouldnāt care about the other aspects. Finders keepers. Someone made a mistake in my favor. Spend it and hide it before they come for it.
You contact the bank and assess what is going on. If itās a mistake, they will correct on the spot. You donāt want to start spending and then āuhh you owe us moneyā
As long as I pay my taxes on it, the government can F off. Given what I've posted online what I would do with a very large sum of money, I'd expect certain local and state government types to try to take me out. I would... ā¢ use a small portion of it to secure myself and those I care about a comfortable life. ā¢ endow certain local and regional nonprofits with enough for them to operate indefinitely as long as they were financially responsible with their budgets. ā¢ build high schools and other schools in my county and build them right. Our county commissioners ALWAYS screw over the schools. And, I would make sure I insulted the county government every chance I got. ā¢ Replace the county funded public library with one meant to do its job and one that would be perpetually independent. It would have branches in the outlying communities and an endowment large enough so the interest would fund it and employees. I would also use this opportunity to insult the county government, and maybe certain public activists, too. ā¢ create my own transit system in my county. The county government already has one, but it is worse than useless. This would be one people would be willing to use to take back and forth to work, school, and shopping. I would overendow it and make the usage of it affordable. There are other projects I would pursue, but those are private affairs with public benefits.
Iād tell my coworkers, but keep my job for a few months just freak them out. Iād show off my new used car with only 80k miles on it that I purchased with my $200 billion. Iād still bring a peanut butter sandwich to work. Refuse to shave because ārazors cost moneyā. Good times.
I would owe a shit ton of google play cards to Adam Smith because I entered the wrong number on the form
Assuming everything goes swimmingly, id buy a neighborhood for my friends and family. Then start a foundation for friends and family to work at/with. That probably doesnāt even scratch the surface of the money
Could I hire a army to take down the irs
Putting 200 billion dollars on black
Party
I live in the US, I will suddenly become Christian and tell whoever knocks on my door that it is gift from god, to disbelieve so is discriminating of my religion. I will pay tax. Then I will move out to wherever country I feel like. The new country donāt have reason to do anything because these money are now considered as my savings occurred in the US.
It would all be seized by the government because you'd be suspected of a crime. And because you'd have no money to defend yourself, you'd lose it. This happens to people over much lower amounts of money. All it takes to trigger an alert is $10,000. Innumerable people have had that (or more) stolen by police and never had it returned.