Finnegan Mary Reynolds is suing the Internal Revenue Service. Normally, that wouldn’t be headline news, since the IRS is sued a few times each day. Finnegan Mary Reynolds, however, is unique. Finnegan Mary Reynolds is a golden retriever.
[Her and her owner are] hoping to force the IRS to let pet owners declare their dogs, cats, and other household animals as legal dependents.
The IRS defines pets as property [but] they tick every box for a legal dependent under IRS rules: They have no independent income; they reside exclusively with their humans, and they have annual expenses that top $5,000. Calling them property…does not accurately reflect their role in a household.
— “IRS faces a lawsuit that would reclassify pets as dependents,” Quartz
