Quote:
Originally Posted by 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%)
|
Fair enough Ryan. I didn't take your comment personally, but did think it was a bit harsh.
Look, I am coming to the realization that if I sold my collection of T206, which took me nearly 20 years to carefully build, I could be wacked significantly by taxes. That's not easy to swallow. The government over reaches in their eternal grab for taxes. It's no wonder people ask many questions in advance.
Imagine the Government saying: "You want to sell your set? We'll take your top HOF's & SLers, and you can keep the rest". It about amounts to that, and that's a kick to the 'nads.