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Income tax reporting without schedule k, 2025
Given my sales in 2025, ebay will not be required to send a schedule k. I understand I still need to report the income given the total $ amount.
1. I assume this is the net income. (total sales - sales tax collected - selling costs = net income)
2. Any help on where to report this? This is a hobby, one year sales of some stuff I have.
3. I think this is under "other income" on 1040 1h, but not sure where to put the detail info that the IRS would like.
Any detail will be helpful.
Thanks
6 comments
comicseller1005
OP8 months agoSorry for the confusion on 1099-K. I was researching schedule C, Schedule 1 etc and "schedule" was the word of the day.
Here is what I have found and still in the process of verification. Please do your own research and advisement. But this might be an area to investigate for some.
The key here is the difference between Hobby income and a business.
1. I believe from the IRS guidelines, and other research, information from experts, what I really have is a hobby. I collected comics decades ago as a hobby, kept them for decades, no new purchases, no future plans, and now want to make sure they get into other hobbyist hands. Once they are sold, I am done.
The 1099-K form has a check box for this to identify hobby income. That was what I was disappointed about not getting a 1099-K as it would have made reporting much easier.
2. Indeed if you qualify as a business vs hobby, then you need to use Schedule C (I believe). However, for me the tax rate is significantly higher and I have no business deductions that can mitigate that if I was running a business.
3. As such what has been recommended and also from my research is:
**Schedule 1, Line 8j on Form 1040 is for reporting "Activity not engaged in for profit income," which covers income from hobby activities.**
4. IRS has a list of factors for Hobby vs Business. As always there are some "gray" areas.
https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/know-the-difference-between-a-hobby-and-a-business
Thanks for your input.
mr_lincoln
Mentor8 months agoHi @comicseller1005
You would benefit from downloading an IRS Schedule C and Instructions. There ARE deductions you can use to reduce the potential reportable income from your eBay sales.
On this page in Seller hub with the custom date range for all for 2025 you can get some important information for deductions: Seller Hub | Reports financial overview | eBay
comicseller1005
OP8 months agoThanks for the quick response. I am using turbo tax that lets me try things. When I start using schedule C, it classifies my sales as a business vs hobby. Taxes go way up that way ~2x. Even if I just use the net sales. I do not have many other deductions.
comicseller1005
OP8 months agoAs an example, I entered in a schedule K, hobby income, net income only. Tax was 1/4 of using schedule C for that part of my income. I do not have a schedule K from ebay, so that will probably will not work.....
Unfortunately, this is a change in the BBB this year such that ebay only has to give out schedule K if >$20k AND >200 transactions. It would have been easier if they would give me a schedule K.
monroe67
Mentor8 months ago"As an example, I entered in a schedule K, hobby income, net income only. Tax was 1/4 of using schedule C for that part of my income. I do not have a schedule K from ebay, so that will probably will not work.....
Unfortunately, this is a change in the BBB this year such that ebay only has to give out schedule K if >$20k AND >200 transactions. It would have been easier if they would give me a schedule K."
You continue to say/type "schedule K", and in your second paragraph above you state:
"ebay only has to give out schedule K if >$20k and >200 transactions."
The document you are apparently thinking of is Form 1099-K.
Those dollar and transaction amounts pertain to Form 1099-K.
OK, what is a Schedule K?
A "Schedule K" is a federal income tax document used in support of Form 1065:
"Form 1065 is an information return used to report the income, gains, losses, deductions, credits, and other information from the operation of a partnership. A partnership doesn't pay tax on its income but passes through any profits or losses to its partners. Partners must include partnership items on their tax or information returns."
If you are not conducting business as a partnership, Form 1065 and its supporting Schedule K or Schedule K-1 do not apply to you.
mr_lincoln
Mentor8 months ago@comicseller1005
You should talk to a tax professional for advice ... we just give suggestions here and there are plenty of deductions on the Schedule C to reduce the tax burden ... but maybe you don't have those so a different type of reporting might work better for your sales activities.
And as @monroe67 mentioned, the form 1099-K is what sales venues issue to Sellers, not just "K" ... while I understand what was being referred to we like good references because many other members may read these threads trying to figure out what they should do. A tax professional will be able to tell you if a Schedule 1 is better for your sales volume than a Schedule C.