Technically the gain on the sale of collectibles (which sports cards certainly qualify as) is taxed at either your current tax rate or up to a maximum of 28% if your tax rate is above that percentage. So it would not be considered a long term nor a short term gain. Just a collectibles gain.
If done as a business on Schedule C the tax rate would be whatever your tax rate is, but you will also get hit with self employment tax on the profits (either Social Security and Medicare tax or, if you have already gone above the income threshold for Social Security tax, then just Medicare tax). However, as a business you are able to deduct expenses that you are not able to by simply selling the collectible itself for a gain. These would include travel, subscriptions, supplies, collectibles insurance, a portion of your cell phone bill if you use the phone for the business. Some expenses such as eBay/paypal fees or grading fees can be used as an expense in either instance.
Hope this helps a bit.
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