04-16-2022, 09:02 PM
Acer wrote:
[quote=Mr645]
If I sell something for $600 and that counts as income, I guess I can write off the $1599 I pay for the item new?
You can deduct that basis from the sale price when you file your taxes. If you paid $1500 for it, but sell it for $600, you don't owe any taxes on it.
The IRS says that people who sell in a way that's equivalent to garage sales don't have to report the income. Here's their quote from FS-2007-23, September 2007, "Income resulting from auctions akin to an occasional garage or yard sale is generally not required to be reported." They demonstrate the, "generally not" by referencing people who buy things for resale (that is reportable). My wife sells our old stuff on eBay and makes between $1000-$2000 a year doing so. We've never reported it because of the IRS position. Now she'll get a 1099 so we'll have to report it on a Schedule C because of the 1099 match that they'll do. But, we'll end up losing money on the Schedule C because of the basis, the packaging cost, travel cost, exclusive use of a bedroom in the house for her stuff, etc. It will be a pain in the patoot to do, but she's been keeping spreadsheets of all the stuff for years. When she started that I asked her to ballpark the original cost in a column on the spreadsheet simply because I figured the IRS could change their position at any time. So it's just another form to fill out when all is said and done. I think when people figure out what they can actually deduct it will make the average small garage-sale level seller on eBay a money-loser for the IRS.