Handling Sales for An Estate
We are having trouble selling up my girlfriends fathers eBay account as an estate account to sell estate items. eBay is rejecting the EIN because the estate is not a recognized business. Would we be able to use her personal SSN to move the items without incurring taxes on her personal taxes?
Help would be appreciated! Thank you!
15 comments
tools*
·2 years agoIf your girlfriend's father died and left her all of his stuff, it's now her stuff. (I'm assuming we're not talking about millions of dollars in assets.) If she wants to sell some of it on eBay, she should just sell it as she would any of her other stuff.
ten_o_nine
·2 years agoeBay requires an Employer Identification Number (EIN) for estate accounts to ensure tax compliance. Since the estate isn't a recognized business, using a personal Social Security Number (SSN) might seem like a workaround. However, I strongly advise against it.
Using a personal SSN for estate sales can lead to tax implications and potential legal issues.
farmalljr
·2 years agoI am not going to make any assumptions with the estate. That is for lawyers and courts to figure out.
If you are attempting to "transfer" ownership of an account dad owned, you can't. There is no such thing as transferring ownership of an eBay account. You'll need to start a new one. If the girlfriend is attempting to start a new account here solely for the purpose of selling dad's estate, her name and SS/EIN has to be on the account. Even if it's for a business purpose (starting an account) someone has to be named as a responsible party to enter a contract. Unless you are someone like BestBuy that is.
Whatever tax may be owed if your girlfriend starts an account, is between her and the IRS. Consult lawyers and CPA's for clarity.
dhbookds
·2 years ago@onefootflipper
An estate EIN was mentioned by OP.........because of that I assume it's going thru probate.......
onefootflipper
·2 years agoEveryone here seems to be assuming the unlikely, which is a very valuable estate with a will with a large number of personal items and possible creditors.
As opposed to the more common reality where dad died and the girlfriend is left with the stuff in his house and there is no-one coming after it.
If the estate is an actual legal entity that is getting the money then the girlfriend just logs the payouts to the estate as expenses and owes zero taxes. If the girlfriend personally owns all the stuff then there are several ways to still owe no taxes, she can either pay an accountant for this information or simply look it up herself.
Unavailable member
·2 years agoThank you for being the voice of reason 🙂 but, I do agree that the daughter selling might take a huge amount of time to fully execute. If the beneficiaries and the executor want to wait, and daughter doesn’t mind putting in the effort, the tax issue isn’t significant. Daughter sells, receives payouts, and transfers all profits to the estate.
dbfolks166mt
·2 years agoEveryone here seems to be assuming the unlikely, which is a very valuable estate with a will with a large number of personal items and possible creditors.
As with a lot of postings on this forum that is about all you can do since the OP did not provide a lot of detail.
As opposed to the more common reality where dad died and the girlfriend is left with the stuff in his house and there is no-one coming after it.
If the estate is an actual legal entity that is getting the money then the girlfriend just logs the payouts to the estate as expenses and owes zero taxes. If the girlfriend personally owns all the stuff then there are several ways to still owe no taxes, she can either pay an accountant for this information or simply look it up herself.
Regardless of the situation, and I have ben the executor for a number of family estates, I would never use eBay to liquidate an estate.
caldreamer
·2 years agoEBAY does not allow you to "transfer account" from deceased person to his daughter. She would need to open new account with her checking account# and social security#. Of course, EBAY will report sales to IRS (everyone has to pay taxes or justify your deductions).
I strongly urge you to contact with an estate attorney about this.
dbfolks166mt
·2 years agoIn addition to @dhbookds advice I am not sure how large the estate is or how long you want to drag this out. There are multiple factors involved some of which could involve who's property the items are currently considered to belong to. Talk to a lawyer.
It could take months/years to completely liquidate an estate. You may be better off utilizing the services of an estate sale company or an auction house to expedite the process.
lacemaker3
·2 years agoIf you mean that your girlfriend's father is deceased, and you are trying to settle his estate, first please accept my condolences.
I have never heard of an "estate account" and I'm not sure that eBay allows that. Buying and selling on eBay requires that the account owner be able to enter into a contract, and I'm not sure that is possible for a deceased person. If a death certificate is submitted, that is part of the process for closing a person's account after they die ... I'm not sure if there is anyway to keep an account open at that point.
"Would we be able to use her personal SSN to move the items without incurring taxes on her personal taxes?"
No, there is no way to do that. If you sell the items through a personal account, then the person whose SSN is on the account will be liable for the reporting the income. However, if your girlfriend is the heir, then for inherited items, the cost basis would be the fair market value of the items when they were inherited (when the estate was settled), so the actual tax liability would probably be zero, unless settling the estate and liquidating the items takes a long time and they appreciate in value between when they were inherited and when they were sold. The most straightforward way to do this would be to distribute the items to the heirs, and let them deal with liquidating them, as their own property.
If the items in the estate need to be sold and converted to cash, to settle debts or monetary bequests, then I think you need to get an executor or lawyer involved who understands the legal liabilities and responsibilities and knows how to do this correctly and legally. I would think that a new account would need to be set up, possibly run by the executor on behalf of the estate. But this is a very unusual situation that I have never run across before, so I don't know how this would or should be done.
All of that is assuming that there was a will involved, and your girlfriend is the heir who inherited the items in question, and/or is the executor named in the will. The executor should talk to the lawyer who wrote up the will. If there was no will involved, then the estate will have to go through the probate court, and you should not do anything until you get instructions from the court on what needs to be done and how to handle it.
krdanner
·2 years agoI would contact a reputable estate company. Interview 2-3 companies. Then let them sell your family goods.
P.S. My condolences to your girlfriend.
Ebay is not the platform to sell estates.
I hope after speaking to a lawyer, your are able to do this. Probate is a long and expensive.
Best Wishes
dhbookds
·2 years agoNeed to talk to an attorney as to how to set it up........you could certainly use the friends account to sell stuff.......but to protect her.......you need to be sure she has the legal right to sell the stuff and what records she needs to keep to satisfy a court and the IRS....... She would need to be appointed by a Court as the executor of the estate, I would imagine.......and then will have to show the Court records of the sales and how the $$ was distributed......
If there are other heirs involved............be VERY careful............
soh.maryl
·2 years agoAnd if the girlfriend's account is to be used to sell the things from the estate, won't that mean that she will be considered the seller and the funds from the sale will be considered her income?
Personally, it seems like an attorney would be a good start.
dbfolks166mt
·2 years agoAnd if the girlfriend's account is to be used to sell the things from the estate, won't that mean that she will be considered the seller and the funds from the sale will be considered her income?
Personally, it seems like an attorney would be a good start.
Exactly. Personally I would never attempt to liquidate an estate through eBay it could take months/years depending on the size of the estate.
dhbookds
·2 years agoYes, certainly an attorney........the money she received from the estate stuff would probably have to be transferred to an estate account, which would have the EIN #, and then shown in/out on her personal tax return...... Then the Estate account would have to file a final IRS form when the court closes the estate and orders a disbursal to the heirs........ The estate deduction is rather large......4/5 million I think.......so they may not have estate taxes to pay, but until the disbursal, the estate would be subject to income taxes......and any sales prior to that disbursal would have to be reported.