2021 Taxes

[forward-motion]

I am working on my sales and income from last year. 2021 was the best year I have ever had on eBay; therefore, my totals are up, and I am looking for every deduction I can find. I don't see a way I can tell how much was paid out in partial refunds, or refunds I gave without a return. Is there a way I can find this total? 

Here in 2022, I have made a lot of changes, keeping track of all of these items individually but I did not do that last year. Any help would be appreciated. 

[johnrj1226]

Would  think your  Money Processor either Pay Pal and/or eBay (via Managed Payments)  would have the "keys" to that info.  But also would think the 1099K(s) you received for 2021 would reflect the net amount Gross sales - less refunds

Never received a 1099K  from either  - so this is a SWAG. ========================================

 ==========================================  Scientifc Willd A crooked letter crooked letter Guess.

[forward-motion]

I wish it was that easy, if it was, I would not be asking the question. The 1099k is total sales, per month that's it. No expenses taken out. Total gross sales. 

[dbfolks166mt]

     There is a consolidated report that you can pull from eBay  that will have everything you need and then some regarding every transaction you had in 2021. From the seller hub select Reports from the payments drop down. Enter the start date of 1/1/2021 and an end date of 12/31/2021 and run the report. It will take a bit to run but will let you know when it is ready to download. You can then open up the report in excel, sort the data on column B which is the TYPE and then delete all the rows except for those that are refunds then total up the amount in column AC. 

[forward-motion]

Furthermore, the 1099k and my sales reports do not match. The 1099k shows about $1600 more in income than does my sales report. Not one of the monthly totals matches, they are way off. I can't find where they get the numbers on the 1099k. 

[dbfolks166mt]

     The report I described will also provide you with that information you just have to rack and stack the data differently. Personally I create copies of the original data in multiple tabs in the Excel spreadsheet and rack and stack the data to separate out the information I am looking for. It's not a one solution fits all but more what the personal preferences are with regards to understanding the data. 

[dbfolks166mt]

     Ebay does have part of that information and some expenses can be obtained from the eBay reports (shipping, fees, refunds) but eBay does not have individual seller expenses related to shipping supplies, COGS, POV, etc. 

     The 1099 is an IRS required reporting document not a form designed to help individuals figure out their net income. 

[luckythewinner]

---

@forward-motion wrote:

Furthermore, the 1099k and my sales reports do not match. The 1099k shows about $1600 more in income than does my sales report. Not one of the monthly totals matches, they are way off. I can't find where they get the numbers on the 1099k. 

---

You  may need to look at first and last few days of the year. 

I thought I read somewhere on here that the 1099-K totals are based on payout date and not payment dates and thus anything dated at the end of 2021 that was not paid out in 2021 is left off, and anything dated at the end of 2020 that was not paid out until 2021 is included. 

Please do not take this as a definitive answer, because I have no 1099-K so I have no way to verify it. 

[m60driver]

It is possible to glean the details in the Ebay generated report.  But the question is whether it is worth your time to dig out that information.

I too did not keep my own detailed  spreadsheet last year so I did some honest estimating for the 2021 Schedule C, including my net profit margin.

[johnrj1226]

Know that stuff.   When I filed my  income tax forms  for eBay sales income - even when I  was not issued a 1099K I kept records on an Excel spread sheet  for each transaction that  included any returns, item  acquisition costs, shipping/packaging costs, final selling price, eBay & pay pal fees.   The  max I sold  was about 35 items per month for a year period -  average  of 30 -35 bucks each - so not a lot of bookkeeping to do.  On 12.31 I closed my books.  Printed our  my report  clipped all back-up - I was ready for Uncle  Sam IRS filing and ready for any audit,   No one said it is easy but it is a real PITA if you did not stay on top of the activities and document.

[dbfolks166mt]

     I have always kept my own records as well. I use the eBay report as a sanity check and on occasion have found a couple of minor errors in my own record keeping that did not jive up with the eBay report, but those are few and far between and usually related to international fees that I did not catch at the time I entered in my own books. I use accrual accounting for my own book keeping so I recognize revenue and expenses when they occur regardless of when the cash flow takes place. 

[popblox · Accepted solution]

---

@dbfolks166mt wrote:

     There is a consolidated report that you can pull from eBay  that will have everything you need and then some regarding every transaction you had in 2021. From the seller hub select Reports from the payments drop down. Enter the start date of 1/1/2021 and an end date of 12/31/2021 and run the report. It will take a bit to run but will let you know when it is ready to download. You can then open up the report in excel, sort the data on column B which is the TYPE and then delete all the rows except for those that are refunds then total up the amount in column AC. 

---

@forward-motion 

The above also allows you to run the report and view refunds only - select the date range and Transaction Type > Refunds. I just ran mine for 2021, did a quick AutoSum and it was accurate.

[7606dennis]

I would advise consulting your tax advisor.  However, provided that you have kept a good set of books detailing all of your expenditures it should be relatively easy to determine which deductions you are able to legitimately take on your Schedule C.

[dbfolks166mt]

You  may need to look at first and last few days of the year. 

I thought I read somewhere on here that the 1099-K totals are based on payout date and not payment dates and thus anything dated at the end of 2021 that was not paid out in 2021 is left off, and anything dated at the end of 2020 that was not paid out until 2021 is included. 

Please do not take this as a definitive answer, because I have no 1099-K so I have no way to verify it. 

     EBay does in fact use the actual payout date in calculating the monthly figures for the 1099. In other words cash accounting. One of the things that goes into your schedule C is the type of accounting you use for your business. Most businesses use accrual accounting and GAAP requires the use of accrual accounting For tax purposes both are acceptable as are other hybrid methods. The method you put on schedule C should be the method you use to keep your own books and that may differ from eBay's.  

     Through most of the year the method you use is not all that important but as others have mentioned it's the beginning and ending of the calendar year where variances occur. Since I pretty much shutdown over the holidays I have never had to deal with variances. If you use accrual accounting as your method of accounting it is possible you will show more revenue than what the eBay 1099 is showing using the cash accounting method. 

[dbfolks166mt]

     Good point. There are lots of ways to obtain the information and it boils down to the individual preferences as to what they are the most comfortable with. What is most important is it is all out there and available.  I just tend to pull it all at once and do my own separation rather than running separate reports for each type of transaction. But I did accounting for over 30 years and I am pretty proficient with Excel and can rack and stack the data about as fast as I could run the individual reports.