OT But probably affects most on this board

[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.