[Rhotchkiss]

Bob, I think it is quite clear that my comment was directed solely to the OP, who is not bashful about asking advice on how to evade taxes on a public chat room/dumb. I would not call (and was not calling) you or anyone else dumb.

LOOK - taxable gain is taxable gain, regardless of whether you get a 1099 or not. As a general rule, under the US Tax code, when you make money (i.e., income), you are supposed to pay tax on that income, unless there is an exemption or a deferral mechanism (like section 1031).

The tax is applied to the "gain", again, the income. Getting your money back, is not gain/income. What you paid for something is your "basis". What you sell it for is your "amount realized". If you sell it for more than your basis, you have recognized a gain, which is taxable (amount realized minus basis = positive number). If you sell it for less than your basis, you have recognized a loss, and you should be able to at least offset gains of the same asset with that loss (amount realized minus basis = negative number).

Example: I buy Card $X for $10. My basis is $10. I later sell the card for $20. Even though I realized $20 on the sale, my gain recognized is only $10, because my basis/cost was $10 ($20 realized minus $10 basis = $10 gain recognized). In this case, there is $10 of gain and that is what tax is paid on, regardless of whether Ebay or any other auction house does or does not send me a 1099. I believe the tax rate is 28% on that $10 of gain recognized: The first $10 is a return of basis/cost, the second $10 is gain and the tax on that gain is $2.80 (28%)