OT But probably affects most on this board

[BleedinBlue]

...and how it affects my situation.

This year I decided to liquidate a fair number of cards for various reasons including space, change in collecting focus and finances. I've still got a ways to go on this clean-up which will roll into 2011. In my case I am selling cards which I have purchased over the last 30+ years and held in my personal collection. I don't have records on what I paid for each card except for those purchased in the last 4 years. How so I report "profits" when I don't know purchase price? Given that some of these cards have greatly appreciated but some have also drastically depreciated, where does that leave me from a reporting standpoint? At this point I plan on selling less. I'm not in business, I'm just trying to thin my collection. And I did expect to sell more than $20k in 2011. Certainly I planned on selling more than 200 items.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by BleedinBlue

...and how it affects my situation.

This year I decided to liquidate a fair number of cards for various reasons including space, change in collecting focus and finances. I've still got a ways to go on this clean-up which will roll into 2011. In my case I am selling cards which I have purchased over the last 30+ years and held in my personal collection. I don't have records on what I paid for each card except for those purchased in the last 4 years. How so I report "profits" when I don't know purchase price? Given that some of these cards have greatly appreciated but some have also drastically depreciated, where does that leave me from a reporting standpoint? At this point I plan on selling less. I'm not in business, I'm just trying to thin my collection. And I did expect to sell more than $20k in 2011. Certainly I planned on selling more than 200 items.

Unfortunately, I believe the rule is that if you can't prove a cost basis, to support your net profit/loss, then the cost basis is 0. I have done that with some cards when I didn't have the necessary back up.

[Jim VB]

Originally Posted by BleedinBlue

...and how it affects my situation.

This year I decided to liquidate a fair number of cards for various reasons including space, change in collecting focus and finances. I've still got a ways to go on this clean-up which will roll into 2011. In my case I am selling cards which I have purchased over the last 30+ years and held in my personal collection. I don't have records on what I paid for each card except for those purchased in the last 4 years. How so I report "profits" when I don't know purchase price? Given that some of these cards have greatly appreciated but some have also drastically depreciated, where does that leave me from a reporting standpoint? At this point I plan on selling less. I'm not in business, I'm just trying to thin my collection. And I did expect to sell more than $20k in 2011. Certainly I planned on selling more than 200 items.

My first advice is to get a professional tax advisor, and ignore all advice (including mine) that you get from a message board.

As an aside, I would go back and re-read your post, removing any reference to cards, and insert the words "stocks." If you were reducing your 30+ year holdings of stocks, you would expect to have some winners and some losers. You would know that you owe tax on the net amount of any profit. You would expect to pay that amount. The fact that it's cards makes no difference.

[BleedinBlue]

No doubt I would expect to record stock transactions and record them for tax purposes. However, I've never thought about buying a $20 blaster box at the Walmart checkout and writing off that $20 from my income when the contents ended up being worthless commons.

Considering that most of my collection was purchased out of wax boxes over the last 30 years I'm sure I've lost about 90% of my invested capital on those transactions. How do I write that off from my income?

Originally Posted by Jim VB

My first advice is to get a professional tax advisor, and ignore all advice (including mine) that you get from a message board.

As an aside, I would go back and re-read your post, removing any reference to cards, and insert the words "stocks." If you were reducing your 30+ year holdings of stocks, you would expect to have some winners and some losers. You would know that you owe tax on the net amount of any profit. You would expect to pay that amount. The fact that it's cards makes no difference.