Anyone who receives $600 or more per year starting in 2022 selling on eBay, or receiving money via Paypal, Venmo, etc., will be receiving a 1099-K form and that "income" will be reported to the IRS. https://community.ebay.com/t5/Annou...reporting-laws-that-will-affect/ba-p/32508057 Yes, casual seller, congratulations, you're now a "business." Hope you like paperwork! Does this mean that you'll be paying income tax (federal and, no doubt, state) on sales of choo-choos? Well, if you can claim expenses against that revenue, no. But how many people kept receipts of what they bought? If you didn't, the IRS can decide that your cost for that 0-2-0 was ZERO and the entire amount of the sale is taxable. This is actually not new: it's always been the law that any sale is taxable income, less the costs of sale. The big difference is that the previous reporting requirement was $20,000. Now it's $600, a magic number in many other cases including payments to independent contractors. And like, in my home state, garage sale proceeds. The impact on buying and selling won't be known for a while. I suspect a number of people will get a surprise in the mail come January 2023. I also expect that if you haven't already provided your tax identification number... which is in many cases your Social Security Number... to Paypal, eBay, et al, you'll be required to if you want to keep using the services (except for pure buying).
They keep this up and retail stores will make a comeback. Already Ebay is adding sales tax and the price of shipping seems to have doubled or close to it. I am already finding a few items cheaper off Ebay rather than on Ebay.
I can soon see a new checkbox for eBay Sellers to automatically refuse bids in excess of $600 on an item; first Bidder to offer $599 takes it. Then, the Seller shuts down for the year.
So, I am better off giving my stuff away. House flippers caused this to happen in real estate here. I used to be able to sell the place I have lived in for a year and buy a new one with *no* tax. House flippers exploited this. Argh.
After all those Coronavirus aid checks, I guess the government has to get that money back somehow. Anyone up for a black-market model train system? Or maybe we will have to start paying each other with grain and meat to get around monetary transactions. Maybe this will encourage train swaps to come back like that old Yahoo group.
I could think of a few ways! For starters... WARNING: TRAINBOARD RULES VIOLATION! WARNING: TRAINBOARD RULES VIOLATION! WARNING: TRAINBOARD RULES VIOLATION! WARNING: TRAINBOARD RULES VIOLATION! ..and I think that would do it!
Because I can no longer travel into the city to find stuff I've been looking on line at local stores. Amazon would often display one they had for less. But this past few weeks Amazons prices have risen about 10%. Could this be the reason. Also todays news has reports of the big stores getting raided are seeing there stuff for sale on such sales boards. It's getting to be fun.
I've always been a little puzzled by tax stuff. Let me ask this to those that are in-the-know.... If 2 people standing next to each other pass a $1 bill back and forth multiple times, are they technically supposed to claim income upon each pass?
I don't believe so. That article Shortround linked mentions paying someone for dinner. It would only be taxed if the payment is in exchange for goods or services, not reimbursement.
The IRS gift limit to any one person is $15,000 per year. Suppose that you give me a gift of up to $15,000 and I give you a gift of the equivalent value in Micro-Trains cars. Is there then any tax consequence?
$600 a year is nothing. That's $50/month. Who spends less than that on trains? Bartering will make come back!
And being so many sellers that use paypal want friends/family...will that get reported to the IRS? Or is that not income?
Hmm, so, if I am retired and only collecting Social Security then if I sell off 80% of my trains I *should* be ok as long as I keep it below a certain level.