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Undead Tax Exemption: Difference between revisions
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This is a subtrope of [[Reality Ensues]]; most stories give this trope the most basic [[Hand Wave]] and be on their way. See also [[Casual Car Giveaway]], which is another situation where ordinarily expected paperwork is unnecessary.
{{examples
== Anime & Manga ==
* It occurs with Rukia in ''[[Bleach]]'' (although somewhat justified since the forces of Soul Society are easily comparable to [[The Men in Black]], right down to the [[Laser
** Later in the series {{spoiler|[[The Rival|Renji]]}} does the same. This also works in reverse, since characters who leave again are [[Ret Gone|forgotten by anyone]] without sufficient power to resist the effect.
* ''[[Ah! My Goddess (Manga)|Ah My Goddess]]!'' spends a small [[Story Arc]] on this, but eventually goes the "magic up the papers" route.
** In the manga, she feels sorry for the teacher who is trying so hard to find her student registration. {{spoiler|Being Belldandy, she completely misses the fact that he's trying to out her, suspecting that she's a plant by a rival professor to lure students away from his lectures.}} When he collapses from exhaustion in the middle of flipping through the ''paper'' school records a ''second'' time, Belldandy tucks him in and uses her magic to create the paperwork he's trying so hard to find, thinking that it will make him happy. Fortunately for Belldandy, the professor's reaction is never shown.
* Sousuke in ''[[Full Metal Panic]]'' infiltrates a Japanese high school with a forged identity provided by Mithril, under orders not to reveal his identity as a special ops sergeant or his objectives. Bureaucratically speaking, he pulls the infiltration off without a hitch as no-one seems to raise questions about his papers, prior education, tax status, social security number, etc ([[Screw the Rules, I Have Money|though the huge "donations" from Mithril to the school may have helped with that]]).[[Fish Out of Water|Practically]]... [[Hilarity Ensues|less so]].
* Nicola in ''[[Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch]]'' whipped up an identity for Lucia, and {{spoiler|Kaito was a [[Door
* ''[[Magical Princess Minky Momo]]'', a [[Magical Girl]] from another dimension, avoided this problem by picking a childless couple and hypnotizing them into thinking she's their daughter.
* Explored in ''[[Suzumiya Haruhi]]'' through Yuki and Ryoko. The two girls can manipulate information, and did so to construct identities for themselves in order to blend in to human society. However, when Haruhi is investigating {{spoiler|Ryoko's disappearance, she is justifiably suspicious of the sparse paper trail Ryoko left behind, such as not giving a new address, parents paying cash up front for an apartment, parents untraceable, and so on.}} Why ''[[Aliens in Cardiff|Canada]]''?
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**** It's probably easier to hunt humans when they believe that vampires don't exist.
** There's also the matter of Edward inheriting his family fortune multiple times. It's not specified how he got away with this, given the fact that he's dead and said fortune, at the very least, contains several very expensive and custom-cut diamonds that would attract attention.
* Averted in the ''[[Sisters Grimm]]''. The ever afters (all characters from fairy tales) are immortal (age only if they want to, can be killed but need a bit more than a normal human). Even though non-humans (e.g. the Three Little Pigs) can appear human, most are unemployed and hide in Ferryport or {{spoiler|an underground village in [[New York City]] Central Park}} because they do not have official papers. [[Laser
* The immortals in Poul Anderson's ''Boat of a Million Years' do this. Some more regularly than others. It's occasionally averted when some don a [[God Guise]]. The main character plays it the straightest. Changing identities over the years and keeping control over his, eventually rather large, business and financial interests. {{spoiler|It's not really primarily a [[Compound Interest Time Travel Gambit]] as he's building up his corporate empire to search for other immortals, not purely financial gain. Though the money helps. }}
* Explored in the sequel to ''[[Paranormalcy]]'', ''Supernaturally''. Lend's father David helps immortal paranormals by giving them fake paperwork so they can function in society.
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** Presumably he had Willie Loomis do most of the shopping for him, as well as bring him up to speed on how to blend in to the 20th century.
* The ''[[Highlander (TV)|Highlander]]'' TV series deals with this a few times, although the exact treatment seems to vary [[Depending On the Writer]], or maybe depending on the plot of an episode. Presumably most or all immortals have to do this in modern society, and do so successfully (perhaps relying on black market sources and fraud/forgery of official documents). Some even manage it despite very public deaths (most notable are a guy who made a circus act out of the fact that he couldn't be killed, and Richie, Duncan's [[Sidekick]], who had become a professional motorcycle racer and died on the track). Mostly, this is treated as little more than a bother and having to leave town for awhile, but a few times there have been attempts at justifications, such as Duncan complaining about how hard it is to forge/alter records and documentation for his friend Hugh Fitzcairn, who has not adopted well to new technology like computers.
** Another episode played with the trope: when a friend of Duncan's shows up on his doorstep with police right behind her she claims it was because she was in the same hotel as a VIP that was killed and afterward the police had realized that her paperwork didn't check out and have been following her since. The truth is that, haunted by her failure to assassinate Hitler and potentially save many lives, she has taken it upon herself to go around assassinating would-be dictators and [[Politically
* In ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'', Jack O'Neill gets a clone who, due to a screw-up on [[Mad Scientist|Loki]]'s part, is a teenager. In the end, the clone decides to go back to high school and make his own way. How they get him the necessary documents to do so is not explained. Of course, this is the same organization that can hide Stargate Command, which is an element at least the size of a few battalions. One kid oughta be easy.
** This is the US Federal Government we are talking about. They (admittedly a different part) routinely create new identities -- see the Witness Protection Program. If they can't use that apparatus to set up an identity, they are really slacking.
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** ''<nowiki>~Vampire: The Masquerade~</nowiki>'' also touches on it. Between being able to create Ghouls and (depending on the clan) other mind-control powers, most vampires have find little intrinsic problems in arranging things. Source material/fluff occasionally mentions both the necessity of ensuring your own [[Undead Tax Exemption]] and the effectiveness as a tactic of screwing with your enemies'.
*** 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.
** ''<nowiki>~Changeling: The Lost~</nowiki>'' also takes into account that characters will likely look [[Year Inside, Hour Outside|a little different]] due to their time in Faerie, if they're not presumed dead. There's a Merit called New Identity that runs from 1 dot (a forged driver's license that ''might'' pass inspection when you're pulled over) to 4 dots (a well-constructed identity that would take some deep probing by a federal agency to dismantle).
*** The stand-alone sourcebook ''Immortals'' has a similar Merit, Alternate Identity, for [[Blood Bath|Blood Bathers]] and [[Immortality Begins At Twenty|the Purified]]. [[Grand Theft Me|Body Thieves]] have no need of the Merit, for obvious reasons.
** Similarly, the rare [[Promethean: The Created|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. "So what did you do before this?" "Oh, I wandered the earth as a monster trying not to fuck up the world too much until I managed to become human, what'd you do?" "I was in banking too."
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* [[Justified Trope]] in ''[[El Goonish Shive (Webcomic)|El Goonish Shive]]'', where someone in the government is responsible for creating the legal identities.
** That, and everyone is either a shapeshifter or has access to a transformation device of some sort.
* Something like this happens in ''[[The Wotch]]'' with Mingmei, who is a middle-aged [http://www.thewotch.com/?epDate=2003-02-12 Latino man transformed into a teenage Asian girl]. A [[Laser
* ''[http://sharingauniverse.comicgenesis.com/ Sharing a Universe]''. Lynette is still able to get a job, rent an apartment, and otherwise live a perfectly normal life despite being an Elf from a parallel fantasy-themed universe. Lampshaded from time to time with her lack of ID for buying alcohol, and Allison suspecting that she's an illegal immigrant.
* Mentioned in ''[http://www.tru-lifeadventures.com TRU-Life Adventures]'' as part of the reason {{spoiler|Mike Michaels}} doesn't go back to being {{spoiler|Trent Tyrell}} once he gets his memory back.
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