Tax season is here and interesting disputes with the Internal Revenue Service are already unfolding.

A recent article appearing on Bloomberg.com tells the story of a woman fighting with IRS regarding whether the money she received for donating her eggs is taxable.

The woman, Nichelle Perez, donated her eggs twice, receiving $10,000 for each cycle. In the article, Perez explains she considers the compensation to be similar to a settlement from a “personal injury lawsuit rather than business earnings.”

The IRS on the other hand, sees Perez’s earnings to be “taxable income.”

While the outcome of the case, which will soon be heard by a U.S. Tax Court Judge, will be of interest to individuals who have donated eggs, sperm and even blood plasma; another aspect should certainly be considered by families seeking to build their families through Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART).

The article explains Perez received $10,000 each time she donated her eggs. When you consider additional costs added on by fertility clinics or donor egg banks add to the process, using donor eggs to create embryos quickly becomes an expensive process for families struggling with infertility.

While using donor sperm is considerably less expensive, there is still a significant cost families will need to pay for an attempt at building their families.

On the other hand, couples who donate their unused, remaining embryos receive no compensation, making the process a true donation. This also means couples struggling with infertility who decide to use donor embryos in their family building process will likely pay significantly less for the entire compared to egg donation.

To learn more about the cost of egg donation compared to embryo adoption, please view our Egg Donation VS Embryo Adoption blog.

To learn more about the process of embryo donation and adoption, please visit EmbryoAdoption.org.

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