This is my first year selling on ebay. I started on January 1 so I started with zero inventory.
That is correct. First, some terminology definitions.
BOY Inventory balance - BOY stands for Beginning of Year. The amount entered here is what *YOU* paid for the inventory in your physical possession on Jan 1, 2019. Since 2019 was your first year dealing with inventory, your BOY balance "MUST" Be zero. Doesn't matter if you actually purchased that inventory 50 years ago.
Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) - The amount entered here is what "YOU" paid for the inventory you "actually sold" during the tax year. It doesn't matter in what tax year you purchased and paid for that inventory either.
EOY Inventory Balance - EOY stands for End Of Year. It's what "YOU" paid for any inventory in your physical possession on Dec 31 of the tax year.
Under Schedule C inventory/cost of goods sold I only put the inventory cost amount I sold. My question I have filed my taxes, but where should I have put my total so I would have a carry over?
That's your EOY Inventory Balance.
Note that your BOY balance absolutely must, with no exceptions, match your previous year's EOY balance. Since 2019 was your first year dealing with inventory, that's why your BOY balance "MUST" be zero, because there's no questioning that your 2018 EOY balance was zero, since your business did not exist, or did not report inventory in 2018. Here's some examples of how this works.
BOY Inventory Balance - $0 Even if I had inventory that I purchased in 2018, since I didn't open my business until 2019 the BOY has to be zero. Period.
COGS - $1000 This shows that "I" paid $1000 for inventory that I "actually sold" in 2019.
EOY Inventory Balance - $2000 shows that on Dec 31 of 2019 I still had $2000 of inventory in my physical possession on that date.
So the above shows that I started my business with $0 inventory, purchased a total of $3000 of inventory in 2019, sold $2000 of that inventory leaving me with $1000 of inventory left over on Dec 31, 2019.
Then for 2020:
BOY Inventory Balance - $1000 Note this batches the prior year's EOY balance. If it does not, then you'll have some 'splain' to do to the IRS, and I don't care what you say, they will not accept "any" reason or excuse your provide.
COGS - $5000
EOY Inventory balance - $4000
The above shows I started the year with $1000 of inventory, purchased an additional $8000 of inventory during the year for a total of $9000 in inventory for 2020. I sold $5000 of that inventory leaving me with an EOY inventory balance of $4000.
