I did my tax return last night, using the well-designed, online TurboTax from Intuit. The one mystery to me was a screen that asked whether I was a beneficiary of the Ottoman Turkish Empire settlements.
Since we’re a long way from the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in the aftermath of World War I, what on earth was this about? Of course, a Google search for “Ottoman empire tax California” provided a helpful answer: “In 1999, a class action suit against New York Life Insurance company was filed by the descendents of those that survived the unfortunate events of 1915 under the rule of the Ottoman Empire during WWI. The company was sued specifically for not being forthcoming in paying up for policies of those killed in mutual massacres. The suit was settled in 2004 for $20 million, and payouts began to individuals and some Armenian charitable organizations.”
Thanks for the info! I did my taxes last night and my google search lead me here 🙂
Pingback: purple monkey dishwasher » Blog Archive » WTF? Wow - Ottoman Turkish Empire Settlement Payment Tax Deduction - A Bit Late?
this is too funny! i also wondered what the heck this deduction was. thanks for doing the research!
It’s not for all Armenians. It is specifically for those families who received awards from NY Life for money owed to their ancestors who perished during the Genocide. You can look up the NY Life suit or AXA Insurance suits yourselves.
And please, don’t be so ignorant as to say “Is this all due to the popularity of System of a Down?” Please, that is insulting to every single Armenian who has had a family member (or many) killed by the Turks and who fight for recognition of that horrible crime in order to help end the cycle of genocide.