I collect Pokémon cards and sell my extras through card sales websites. I know i will receive a 1099 at the end of the year and will need to claim all my sales. My questions comes from the way to claim expenses. The cards come out of packs that you have no way of knowing what's in them. I sell the duplicates to recuperate a bit of the money spent on the collection. Can I claim the expenses I spent on all the packs I purchase and it becomes a loss? Even if I document the cards I keep as an inventory I would still have a loss but I want to make sure i document this appropriately.
If this is a hobby you cannot claim your expenses, however, you must report your income.
If you are doing this as a business with the intent to make a profit, then yes, you can deduct your expenses. However, if you claim this as a business and operate at a loss for too many years, the IRS will reclassify it as a hobby.
how do I identify what my true income off of it is because it would only be calculating gross.
@Vanessa A wrote:If this is a hobby you cannot claim your expenses,
You can still claim COGS as a deduction.