mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999
"Keep in mind, though, that is you sell a rare driver at a profit, that profit is taxable. Even if $10 20 years ago is $100 today, Uncle Sam wants taxes on the 'imaginary profit' of $90 even if you can buy less with $100 today than you could with $10 20 years ago."
Couple of things. How is it an "imaginary profit"? If you bought it for $10 twenty years ago, used it over the past 20 years and then sold it for 10 times what you paid for it, why would that not be a real profit?
"How much people have to sell shouldn't be the determination of why they sell. (personal vs business)" It doesn't. IRS doesn't care if a seller considers themselves a business or just for personal reasons. That does not matter to IRS one bit. Nor does IRS care how many things you sell over the year under the new rule.
AS to your mom's stuff. If you had sold the stuff for you, you would have been a consignment type business. If you want to stay on the personal side, you can ONLY sell your own stuff.
"I've already told my son that my storage unit is filled with cast iron pans and crocks that I have collected for years. I easily have 100-150 pans and about 40-50 crocks. If I listed those collections, some would say I have a business, but none were purchased for selling. Some have most definitely gone up in value, and I wonder how the IRS would view that. " It doesn't matter what anyone else says about it except IRS. This isn't something that a peer group makes a decision on, ONLY IRS makes that determination.
As to your final question, I answered that before and the answer is yes.
@anasazirose wrote:My kids left about 30 chemistry, calculus, biology and physics textbooks when they moved. I paid for them when they each did their 8 years of college. When I list them, I'll have receipts (IF they sell), but right there would be 30 of 100 personal sales. I have a personal library of about 1000 books. I'd love to sell half. Those would definitely sell at a loss. Most were purchased at brick and mortar stores (no Amazon look up receipts). Just with my personal books, I could have 530 sales (if I were that lucky), and that's not even touching our closets, porcelain dolls, Christmas decorations, Barbie dolls, Dawn dolls, my son's Pez collections, and his 27 binders chok full of sports cards (although he's not selling).
You seem to be hung up on the number of items you might sell. I don't know what that matters anymore. IRS doesn't care. You just need to follow their rules. As long as you are ONLY selling your own stuff. Not your mom's stuff. Not anyone elses, just yours.
If you have a need to sell someone else's stuff for them, it would be easier bookkeeping to sell those under a different account. Much easier to track stuff.
