I have someone that wants to make me power of attorney over his family inheritance estate. He wants to give me five million dollars to take care of whatever he needs, am I suppose to pay taxes on that money?

Sounds like a scam. If it is not a scam, you should discuss this with an attorney.

Ah - the Nigerian Prince scam! I bet next this guy is going to say you have to pay him some sort of transfer fee, and then he'll want to know your bank information so he can "deposit" the money there. You should run - not walk - away!

But to your tax question - if in fact someone wants to give you power of attorney over their finances there are no direct tax implications for you. If he was to make a gift of the money to you - for example if you set up a joint account that lets you use as much of the money as you want for your own personal use - then the money would be a gift from him to you and he (not you) would have some gift-tax issues. But again - in this case would not owe any taxes.

If a joint bank account is set up, the gift does not occur until the cash is withdrawn.

A POA empowers a person to act in place of the grantor, if the grantor is unable to act.

I can't imagine someone paying a lay person $5m to do this. Maybe paying a lawyer, but then a lawyer wouldn't ask this question.

So yes, this sounds like a scam.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by xbatgyrlx

He wants to give me five million dollars to take care of whatever he needs, am I suppose to pay taxes on that money?

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Hello x:

Sure. You work for him. He pays you an income. You pay income taxes on your income. That's the way it works here in America.

Where can I find work like that?

excon

Yep I agree that sounds like a classic 419er there.
RUN AWAY!!

They WILL be asking for some sort of processing fee next ;)