History Main / UndeadTaxExemption

** In ''Cosmos in the Lostbelt'', Holmes finds out that one of the now-rogue Masters from Team A, [[spoiler: Akuta Hinako]], has an outright false identity. They turn out to be an immortal elemental, and [[InvokedTrope documentation was one of their reasons for working at Chaldea]].

*** However, the fluff (Book of Nod specifically) also says "There will always be Caesar, pay him his due". The notes on that specific line imply that tax evasion is one of the biggest threats to the Masquerade.
*** This is part of why the Ventrue are in charge of the Camiarilla; they have all the business and government influence necessary to handle this kind of problem.

*** Although she did get a gravestone. A gravestone in a remote area, so no one other than the Scoobies knew it existed.

*** From the pilot episode, wealthy vampire Russel Winters has an identity, owns property, pays his taxes, and seems to run a business with meetings in the day (the windows are a special kind of glass that block the harmful part of the suns rays, he presumably is driven around in cars with the same glass). He's a client of Wolfram & Hart, so they probably helped him get a lot of the documentation. He and his lawyer learn that absolutely none of this prevents Angel from simply walking into his office and throwing him out the window.

* Alluded to briefly at the end of ''Fanfic/TheSecondTry'' while Shinji is monologuing to his father [[ConverseWithTheUnconscious as he lies comatose in a hospital bed]]: He's ''not'' looking forward to dealing with the paperwork and awkward questions that will come with establishing a legal identity for [[spoiler:his and Asuka's KidFromTheFuture, four year-old Aki.]] Although in earlier chapters it's hinted that Japan has a ''lot'' of orphans and lost children thanks to Second Impact, so a few vague or missing details in the paper trail wouldn't cause much comment. And the first chapter of [[Webcomic/AkiChansLife the sequel]] involves Ritsuko insisting on a DNA test to verify Shinji and Asuka's story.

*** The deliberately ObstructiveBureaucrat Gavin Park quickly recognizes that they can shut Angel Investigations down simply by pointing out Angel's ID issues to the government. Just to spite Gavin, Lilah gets Angel all the documents he needs.

** In ''Cosmos in the Lostbelt'', Holmes finds out that one of the now-rogue Masters from Team A, [[spoiler: Akuta Hinako]], has an outright false identity. They turn out to be an immortal True Ancestor, and [[InvokedTrope documentation was one of their reasons for working at Chaldea]].

** The original series didn't go into as much detail as to how the Third Doctor managed to keep covert in 1970s Britain, but it can be safely assumed that UNIT was more than able to provide him with enough documentation to keep Inland Revenue happy. By the time of the revived series, the Doctor's psychic paper usually manages to serve this purpose for them — and they're no longer stuck on Earth, anyway.

* Amusingly {{Averted}} by [[ApesInSpace Winston]] in ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}''. despite being a gorilla from the moon, since escaping the Lunar Colony and making it to Earth, he properly immigrated to the point of having to pay taxes (to Switzerland, home of the Overwatch Headquarters).

* {{Deconstructed}} in TheUnmasquedWorld of Creator/KevinJAnderson's ''Literature/DanShambleZombiePI'' novels. Dan's partner Robin is a civil rights lawyer who's made a career out of helping the newly-undead re-enter society and reclaim their legal status as citizens, spouses, and property-holders. As the Big Uneasy happened only a decade ago, courts are still hashing out how to apply the law to people who come back from the grave... but Dan ''does'' have to pay taxes, so doesn't get a literal UndeadTaxExemption.

* In the novel ''Literature/MethuselahsChildren'' by Creator/RobertAHeinlein, the problems with getting an UndeadTaxExemption are mentioned as one reason why the long-lived Howard Family members are attempting to see if they can end their {{masquerade}}. In ''Literature/TimeEnoughForLove'', it's shown that their descendants throughout the centuries continue to come up with ways to hide the fact that they're much longer-lived than their fellow humans. The records of their genealogy, however, are fastidiously maintained in the secret Family files.

* Lampshaded on ''Series/TrueBlood'' with Sophie-Anne, the Vampire Queen of Louisiana. She amassed immense wealth over the years, using undead tax exemption to her advantage. But now that Vampires have come into the open, the IRS is after her.
** Indeed one of the central themes of the series is coming out, being taxed and having rights.
* In the start of ''Series/TheVampireDiaries'', Stefan tries to become a new student and is quizzed on his lack of vaccinations and paperwork. He has to hypnotize the secretary to believe that everything is in order.

** ''TabletopGame/WerewolfTheForsaken'' has a slight variant. It makes clearer than ''Apocalypse'' that werewolves' healing factor means they don't age at the same rate as humanity; a Uratha might look like they're still in their 30s when they're pushing 80. As such, they need to take special steps to keep their paper work up to date, lest awkwardness ensue when they're called in for a police interview or whatever.
** ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'' also touches on it. Between being able to create Ghouls and (depending on the clan) other mind-control powers, most vampires find little intrinsic problem in arranging things. Source material/fluff occasionally mentions both the necessity of ensuring your own UndeadTaxExemption and the effectiveness as a tactic of screwing with your enemies'.

** Similarly, the rare [[TabletopGame/PrometheanTheCreated Promethean]] who manages to become human. While usually one of the Created can operate 'under the radar', when they become fully human their history is going to be rather interesting.\\

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* Conan Edogawa and Ai Haibara from ''Manga/DetectiveConan'' are actually {{teen genius}}es Shinichi Kudo and Shiho Miyano shrunk by the local FountainOfYouth to the appearance of 6-year-olds. Yet, not only do they have assumed names, they use those identities to attend public schools, and given the show's nature, haven't even had their legal identities suspected by the police officers they meet frequently. This lack of proper papers becomes a plot point when Conan receives an invitation to go to London. He has to travel as Shinichi because Conan doesn't have a passport.

* Averted in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2''. When Shepard returns to the Citadel after being reported KIA two years prior, C-Sec records still list them as dead. A brief chat with [[CowboyCop Captain Bailey]] has the latter explain that rectifying this sort of thing would usually require about nine days of running around various Citadel bureaucratic offices but he handily fixes everything with a push of a button (it helps that Shepard is a legendary hero and that the C-Sec DNA scanners have verified that it's truly them).

* Averted by ''Series/ThirdRockFromTheSun'', in which it was made clear that Tommy phonied up their Earth identities and all the required paperwork. When they admit they lost their originals without ever submitting them to the proper authorities, he hurriedly throws new ones together... with some spite thrown in at having to do it again, such as deciding that Sally was a {{transgender}} woman, much to her chagrin. Subverted in an episode where they get audited and make up several far-out stories to explain why they haven't paid their taxes before. Eventually, they admit to being aliens and the IRS guy looks at them for a {{beat}} before saying "Sorry, I've heard that one too."

Most of the time, this trope is dismissed with a {{handwave}} and covered by the WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief. If not, you may have a case of RealityEnsues. [[WatsonianVersusDoylist The Doylist explanation for this trope]] is that watching someone fill out paperwork is boring in real life, so it would be just as boring in fiction; it's just assumed to have happened or isn't explained [[BellisariosMaxim with the expectation that a viewer isn't supposed to ask that kind of question]].

* In ''ComicBook/{{Sturmtruppen}}'', Musolesi, in one of his early appearances, tripped while bringing boiling coffee to a general and immediately started claiming that he had "[[ExactWords heroically fallen in the course of his duty]]"... Only for the bureaucracy to take him at his word and declare him dead, [[RealityEnsues resulting in his personal effects being taken away and added to the inheritance his heirs divided among themselves]] and almost ''actually dying of starvation'' because the military cook, not getting rations for him, refused to feed him. He was eventually restored in the ranks as a "Soul of a Fallen Hero", and immediately proceeded to eat everything the cook had refused to feed him.

** From ''TabletopGame/DemonTheDescent'', when the God-Machine creates angels under mortal guises, it also provides resources, contacts, background, anything the newly-minted angel needs. Frankly, manufacturing new identity whole cloth is child's play for [[DeusEstMachina an entity of such power.]]

* Jarod of ''Series/ThePretender'' presumably has to forge any and all documentation he uses to establish himself in each new identity. Only rarely does this come up in the series -- for example, when he's working as a paramedic and a hospital bureaucrat complains that he can't get ahold of Jarod's tax forms.
** It is alluded to in the series that his personas are temporary at best and would not stand closer scrutiny. He only has to pass the initial check, find what he is looking for and then leave. He does his research in a very low key position and only then assumes the high profile persona needed to accomplish his mission. Once he 'saves the day' he has to leave really quick before he is stopped or the bad guys find him.

* In ''SpiritsThatWalkInShadow'', one of the main characters, a witch, has no official ID, but her father just magically creates a driver's license for her (which exists only until she puts it back in her pocket). This is so that she can attend university, something most of her people don't choose to do.

* One of the {{SERRAted Edge}} novels by Creator/MercedesLackey mentions that an elven protagonist carries a magically-created driver's license (copied with alterations from a human friend's license). The novel in question predates the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/REAL_ID_Act [=REAL ID=] Act]], so the forged license not being in any official databases is a moot point. Besides, all three protagonists are deliberately living "off the record" to hide from enemies.

* Averted in ''Film/MenInBlack''. When they're not saving the world, much of the MIB's job is acting as [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Immigration_and_Customs_Enforcement ICE]] for aliens.
** {{Lampshaded}} in the first scene of the movie, with Kay using ICE's predecessor INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) as their cover (although that was also because the alien he was looking for was hiding among some Mexican undocumented immigrants).

* Averted in ''Film/{{Coneheads}}'' when the INS discovers that Beldar's fake identity ("[=Donald R. DeCicco=]") has been used by at least five other undocumented immigrants.
** Beldar [[spoiler:is eventually able to coerce a senior INS agent into providing him with legitimate papers.]]
** Funnily enough, the INS agent is less concerned with the Coneheads being aliens (i.e. extraterrestrials) than them being ''illegal'' aliens.

* Actually dealt with early on with ''Radio/TheShadow''. In a tale written by Alfred Bester, the Shadow encountered a caveman who gained immunity to aging from a meteor. This caveman decided to aid the Axis in winning World War II by sabotaging the US war effort. He sought the position of War Labor Chief of the country, but since he did not have a birth certificate, he stole Moe Shrevnitz's birth certificate, bringing him in conflict with the Shadow (the caveman had earlier attempted to buy some business interests from Lamont Cranston, and displayed unusual personal knowledge about Cranston).
** Bester [[RecycledScript had used this exact same plot a year earlier]] when he introduced Comicbook/VandalSavage in the 1940s iteration of ''Green Lantern''.

* In ''ComicBook/TheSandman'', immortal Hob Gadling avoids suspicion by faking his death once in a while and leaving the money to a "relative" with the same name. It still doesn't solve the problem of government records, though, in the modern era.

** In ''World's End'' we see that the immortals take care of one another when they encounter others in trouble -- Hob helps out an Indian gentleman who was stowing away on the shop Hob secretly owns -- so if there's an immortal of some sort working in an influential position, they probably give the others a helping hand in getting proper documents.

* ''Manga/AyakashiTriangle'' begins with Matsuri [[GenderBender being turned female]] the day before he was set to start high school. His family's work protecting people from ayakashi give his grandpa Seigen [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections the connections]] to alter Matsuri's enrollment to list him as a girl (and also put him in the same classroom as [[SecretKeeper Suzu]]). Since Matsuri had [[FriendlessBackground almost no social life]] previously, he can use his RealNameAsAnAlias, even to classmates he went to the same middle school as. Seigen seems prepared for [[FirstLawOfGenderBending his grandson to be female permanently]], suggesting they could similarly alter all of Matsuri's legal records. He was also changed by an [[OurSpiritsAreDifferent ayakashi]], and the WeirdnessCensor surrounding them may be helping to preserve his cover.

*** The social worker handling the paperwork for the Buffy household went a little cuckoo bananas nutcakes after being tormented by an invisible woman. Perils of a Sunnydale life.

*** Humorously [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in "The Girl in Question", when Spike's rant reveals that the Immortal had him thrown in prison for tax evasion.

*** In the Season 10 comics, Spike states that it would be a challenge for him to get a job, pointing out that he has no social security number, can't work daytime shifts, and has a hundred-year gape in his resume; he explains that most vampires support themselves by [[RobbingTheDead robbing their kills]]. Xander suggests he get a job as a consultant for the S.F.P.D.'s supernatural crimes unit, which Spike confesses isn't a bad idea.