The One Ring, forged in the fires of Mount Doom, will be taxed at 49%

One Ring is a single, serialized, card. Magic the Gathering’s The Lord of the Rings-themed set has been found, but little is known about the circumstances of its discovery. Only one thing is for sure about this card: Someone, somewhere is interested in buying it. This, friends, means only one thing. The taxman is coming.

The owner of The One Ring, who has requested anonymity, appears to be in Ontario Canada. He or she is also represented by an attorney. And that’s a great first step, representatives from Ontario Tax Services and Argyle Tax Service told Polygon by telephone, because they now need to establish the provenance of the card.

It is likely that the purchase of the card in the store was part of a set of blind cards. If this was the case, the sale will be viewed as a capital gains. Canadian tax laws are the same, whether the card is from a pack that cost $12.99 or more than $518 for a full box. Once sold, Canada’s progressive rate then goes into effect, making 50% of the sale taxable at 49%.

So, if our lucky ring bearer cashes out for $2 million — currently the highest bid, coming from Spain — they will owe roughly $490,000, according to the tax professionals we spoke with,

So what if the bearer of The One Ring simply found the card — say, at the bottom of a stream, or on a shallow lake bed while fishing with a family member? The full transaction amount would then be taxed. In this case, a $2 million sale would bring the Canadian government about $980,000.

What if The One Ring is not the bearer? Give away The Ring by a family member — say, a distant uncle on eve of his one-hundred-eleventh birthday celebration? One tax expert said that in this case the transaction could be completely tax-free.

It seems that the old adage is right: keep it secret. Safeguard it. Keep it for several generations to save on taxes in Canada.