IRS: Frozen Bodies Still Subject to Income Tax

“Being cryogenically preserved is not an argument for shirking one’s US tax obligations,” stated IRS spokesman John Sanders.

WASHINGTON — A new IRS rule states that cryogenically preserved bodies (frozen in liquid nitrogen) are still subject to US income tax, “because there remains a discrete chance that their lives and incomes can be restored by advances in medical science.”

The ruling states that a US taxable person with “sufficient means to preserve his body” should not “use his or her cryogenically preserved state as an excuse to exempt themselves from their tax obligations.”

“Being cryogenically preserved is not an argument for shirking one’s US tax obligations,” stated IRS spokesman John Sanders. “Most of the 200 people who have been cryogenically preserved since 1967 are high net wealth individuals with sufficient funds to preserve their bodies. They can well afford to pay their fair share of tax on passive income.”

Revenue Ruling 2012–55 also allows that the “expenses directly related to the preservation of US taxable persons are deductible up to $100,000 per year, and up to $185,000 for a married couple,” provided that they were never divorced, and are cryogenically preserved “within the same facility.” 401(K) plans and IRAs can be rolled over indefinitely either to pay for the preservation of the US taxable person’s body or to pay the new tax on their still undecomposed body.