If you claimed you got USD 10 million in bribes, how would the IRS verify that you actually got the money? It isn’t like the people giving you bribes will claim that as an expense… actually I’m not sure how it works.

If you own a restaurant and let’s say you bought a kilogram of tomatoes for a dollar and it spoiled but you don’t claim it as a loss. How can the IRS know this automatically and refund you?

I mean I agree they can for simple people like me who just have a w2 though…