Bryan Kellar <bryan[at]oregontaxhelp.com> wrote:

- quote -

So if it is your business (however that's defined) to
buy/sell items of a given sort, you cannot report them on
schedule D? You must report them on Schedule C?

How about using some sort of mark-to-market accounting?
Is that allowable for ebay traders?

Steve

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"Jean S. Barto" <jsbarto1[at]cox.net> wrote:

- quote -

If you are in the business of selling things online, meaning
that you go out and buy items or you make items for resale
then sell them, then it would be necessary for you to file
Schedule C to report your income and to report the expenses
you have in making that income, and paying the tax on the
difference. But you only need to do this if this is your
business.

If you are simply selling off your own personal possessions,
then it would NOT be proper to file Schedule C. In most
cases, you are selling things for less than you paid for
them. You may not take a loss on the sale of personal
items, just as you would not report and take a loss if you
sold the old (whatever it might be) at a garage sale or
through a classified ad in the newspaper.

If, by chance, you do sell a personal item for more than you
paid for it, which might be the case if you sold something
like a coin or baseball card or rare Beanie Baby from your
collection, then that would be reported as a one time sale
on Schedule D.

So, if you are just selling your own items, it would not be
appropriate to put it on your tax form.

Bryan

--
Bryan Kellar, EA
Oregon Tax Help, Inc. -- Portland, Oregon
www.oregontaxhelp.com
www.canadatax.org

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Jean S. Barto <jsbarto1[at]cox.net> wrote:

- quote -

If you're selling personal property below cost, it isn't a
business, so the schedule C will show only losses and be
disallowed.

Seth

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"Jean S. Barto" <jsbarto1[at]cox.net> wrote:

- quote -

Only if you're selling things for more than you paid for
them. (I'm assuming these items weren't used and expensed
in a business operation.)

--
Phil Marti
Clarksburg, MD

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Should folks who sell on Ebay and Half.com consider filing a
Schedule C, even if they are selling their own posessions
(books, computer software, knick-knacks)? The recent
article on this issue last week has me wondering about this.
Although I haven't tracked my expenses (postage, shipping
envelopes, etc) so far, I could if I had to.

I can certainly understand how folks who are running an eBay
store would need to do this, but I guess this has been a
gray area for folks like me who use eBay for decluttering
purposes.

I hope someone on the newsgroups can comment on this--

Thanks in advance--

Jean in VA

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