5 Nov
2003
5 Nov
'03
10:25 p.m.
At 10:02 PM 11/5/03 -0800, you wrote:
getting
professional advice. Any idea if storage costs go towards showing
that you didn't make a profit? Unfortunately in my case, I don't have
receipts that show how much I paid for all this junk, and I sure can't
remember in most cases.
The problem
is that with the IRS you have to PROVE that you didn't make a
profit. If they get something from PayPal (or anywhere else) that shows
that you sold something for money (note that I didn't say profit!), then
you need to have records showing that it's cost and your expenses are equal
or greater than the income from the sales or else you owe taxes on it. In
addition to the possible taxes you may (will!) also be charged interest AND
penalties AND you could even be charged with income tax evasion!
I rather figured this was the case, and was part of why I recommended
And yes, I will end up getting professional advice in the long run on this.
I don't think you need professional advice. The IRS rules and
instructions are pretty clear. If it is only a hobby then there isn't much
money involved and I doubt that it's worth the costs of "professional"
advice. I'd talked to a couple of the "professionals" and frankly they
didn't seem to know what they were talking about. Their advice directly
contradicted the IRS instructons and they couldn't answer at least half of
my questions. My advice, just follow what the IRS instructions say
regarding hobby businesses unless it's a full time business or there's lots
of money involved.
Joe
Zane
--
--
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Administrator |
| healyzh(a)aracnet.com (primary) | OpenVMS Enthusiast |
| | Classic Computer Collector |
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