Did Eric Adams fail to declare cook book income?

The New York City mayor was faced with questions Friday night over whether he had declared earnings from his vegan cookbook — after he said publishers had given him an advance of up to $50,000.

Eric Adams released his much-anticipated tax return on Friday, after being granted a reprieve from the IRS due to COVID contracting around the filing deadline.

The filings are his first as mayor, and the first since he fired his accountant, who was unlicensed, made multiple mistakes, and registered his company with a non-existent office.

The returns filed by the new auditor make no mention of income from the October 2020 book, Healthy at Last: A Plant-Based Approach to Preventing and Reversing Diabetes and Other Chronic Illnesses.

Yet in his Conflict of Interest Statementfiled for the same year, Adams said he received an advance on the book of up to $49,999.

Adams’ conflict of interest disclosure reveals, in the “Income 2” section of “Other Non-City Income,” that he was paid up to $50,000 for the book

The book has been well received, with over 1,000 reviews on Amazon – mostly positive. It ranks 314th in vegan cookbooks and 108th in overall diabetes health.

Adams’ spokesperson, Fabien Levy, said: Politics and New York Daily News that the mayor was not paid for the book, and that the proceeds of the book went to his ghostwriters, Gene Stone and Nicholas Bromley.

The ghostwriters did not respond to questions from DailyMail.com about the controversy.

When asked why Adams would declare money on his conflict of interest forms that he had not received, Levy said the mayor mentioned it as a precaution.

Levy has yet to respond to DailyMail.com’s request for comment.

Mayors are not required by law to release their tax returns, but they generally do so according to tradition.

The last five mayors in New York City have released at least part of their returns. That includes Adams’ predecessor Bill de Blasio, as well as Ed Koch, David Dinkins, Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg.

Adams is seen Friday at a press conference announcing plans to establish a health and life sciences job and education center

Adams’ Brooklyn home, through which he reported earning $24,600 in rent for the four-unit home — down from the $36,000 he collected in 2019 when a tenant moved out

The New Jersey property where Adams’s girlfriend lives, and where some suspected the then-candidate lived

Adams’ return for 2021 shows that he bought cryptocurrency, which he publicly supports, in which he received his first three paychecks, but made no money.

He rented out his Brooklyn home and said New York City was his primary residence.

During the campaign, Adams was faced with questions about whether he lived in the city or on the other side of the Hudson in New Jersey, where his long-term girlfriend lives.

His tax return now lists income from the rental of a portion of the Brooklyn brownstone home in the Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood, which he continues to call his official residence.

In recent years, he left no record of rental income on his IRS filing, saying that his previous accountant told him not to because he had invested all the money in maintaining the house and was actually making a loss. created.

On last year’s returns, he reported earning $24,600 in rent for the four-unit home — down from the $36,000 he collected in 2019 — though that amount was largely offset by expenses.

Adams paid $56,074 in taxes on $245,324 in salary, pension and rental income last year.

His total income was offset by $13,347 in deductions, yielding an effective tax rate of 24 percent.

He paid slightly underpaid taxes on estimated quarterly payments last year, forcing him to pay an additional $93 in penalties and interest.

Adams claimed zero charitable giving in his 2021 taxes.

A city hall spokesman said the mayor gave about $5,000 to charities last year but has not claimed the donations due to a lack of receipts. The mayor also gave to persons who were victims of a crime, the spokesman said.