TAX questions Re CL, eBay, Amazon

[space-time]

supposed you buy and re-sell some items on eBay, Amazon and maybe even CL.
Also suppose you want to report this extra income fairly on your tax return.

What do you report, amount of SALES or the PROFIT? Also, into what category?

more specific: If you were to buy item "X" for let's say $100 and sold it for $200 on amazon, but after Amazon's fees you received $160, and after shipping cost, packaging materials, etc you have about $40 profit, what amount do you report on 1040? suppose you keep all receipts and can prove the cost of the item, shipping costs, etc.

There is no corporation, etc.

Thanks

[mattkime]

its like any other business. you'd be considered a sole proprietor. there's room for entry of income and expenses.

i wouldn't worry about it unless you've made a few grand.

[mrlynn]

Schedule C.

I don't know if there is a minimum in gross sales or profit to trigger a requirement to file Schedule C. But if you have a loss, that could work to your advantage.

/Mr Lynn

[davester]

What they said. Schedule C is very straightforward. No mystery there.

[space-time]

Thanks, I didn't know about schedule C.

[Janit]

Doing taxes on sales can be complex. To do it properly, you need to keep accounts for inventory held, cost of goods sold, etc, and calculate your profit accordingly. If you don't hold inventory, but sell immediately, the calculation is simpler.

If your sales are very small, the IRS will likely not care if you consider this sideline to be a "hobby" that you don't report. If your gross sales are above $20K, then the IRS definitely does care.

From a letter sent to me last April by PayPal.

Starting this year, a new IRS rule requires all U.S. payment providers, including PayPal, to report sales information to the IRS about certain customers who receive payments for the sale of goods or services.

Under the new rule, PayPal is required to report the total payment volume received by PayPal accounts in the U.S. that:

· Receive more than $20,000 in gross payment volume from sales of goods or services in a single year, AND

· Receive more than 200 payments in the same year.

[mrlynn]

Janit wrote:
Doing taxes on sales can be complex. To do it properly, you need to keep accounts for inventory held, cost of goods sold, etc, and calculate your profit accordingly. If you don't hold inventory, but sell immediately, the calculation is simpler.

Yes, technically if you have inventory you must go to the accrual (instead of cash) method of accounting. For occasional sales of unique items, I would assume that's not necessary.

If your sales are very small, the IRS will likely not care if you consider this sideline to be a "hobby" that you don't report. If your gross sales are above $20K, then the IRS definitely does care.

I think the IRS will still want you to report any "hobby" income as "extra income," but you might not have to file a schedule C (unless you want to deduct expenses). Get the IRS publication on business rules.

/Mr Lynn

[M A V I C]

It depends on where you live. There may be many other taxes involved, including city, county and state taxes.