This image was lost some time after publication.

The IRS has finally taken notice of the increasingly elaborate gift bags bestowed upon awards show presenters and nominees, and has issued a warning to anyone who might partake of the big-ticket caviar-facial vouchers and Godiva-dipped cellphones within: Cough up our share, or else.

"There's no special red-carpet tax loophole for the stars," Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Mark Everson said Thursday. [...]

The value of the gifts must be reported on a celebrity's tax return. That includes gift certificates or vouchers if they've been redeemed. The gifts count as income because the IRS does not believe they were given "solely out of affection, respect or similar impulses."

How cynical of the taxman to presume there might be some ulterior motive at play in these branded gestures of admiration. If Cartier wants to gift Charlize Theron with a diamond-studded tennis bracelet, we imagine it's simply in recognition of her latest tour-de-force performance playing a cleft-palated Norwegian nurses' rights advocate, rather than an opportunistic attempt at cashing in on her high-profile status.