I sell on Mercari (which is like ebay) items I don't use anymore just to clear up space. I've made close to $1700 but none of it is profit because I'm selling personal items. They won't send me a 1099-K because the threshold to receive one is $20,000/200 transactions and I'm no where near that. I've read around and have seen different ways to input the info with one being to enter as self employment? I would consider this to be more like a hobby than a business since I don't expect to make a profit. If the threshold is that amount currently does it mean I don't even need to provide this info anyway? Thanks in advance.
According the Internal Revenue Code, even if you do not receive an tax document, a US citizen is subject to tax on worldwide income from all sources and must report all taxable income and pay taxes.
I would report the income as personal item sales rather than as self employment income, See the steps below to report the income in TurboTax Online.
Personal items sold for less than their basis (most likely, the original purchase price) report $0 capital gain on line 7 of the Federal 1040 tax return.
Personal items sold for more than their basis report the gain on line 7 of the Federal 1040 tax return. See this example.
Selling Cost
Price Basis
Couch $500 $2,000 Capital loss on personal item = $0 loss
Jewelry $400 $300 Capital gain on personal item = $100 gain
Chair $100 $100 No capital gain or loss
$1,000 $2,400
Schedule D will report a $100 long term capital gain.
Federal 1040 tax return line 7 reports $100 long term capital gain.
To report Personal item sales in TurboTax Online, follow these directions.
Selling expenses will be reported at the screen Let us know if any of these situations apply to this sale when entering the detail to the IRS form 8949. Select I paid sales expenses that aren't included in the sale proceeds reported on the form.
The entry will be reported:
Capital loss for a personal item sale reports $0 capital gain on line 7 of the Federal 1040 tax return.
Make sure that you retain any information about the items sold should you be required to demonstrate to the IRS that this is not taxable income.
Since I didn't get a 1099-K, on the part where I enter the info manually, can I leave the part about who issued it and their federal ID # blank and just put the gross amount paid (since I only know that)?
If you did not receive a 1099K, then you would skip the 1099-K entries and just go directly to the investment section.
You would enter the your income by clicking the following:
Can I group it all the transactions together when entering the proceeds and total amount paid? I sold like 80 items, seems like a lot to enter. If so, what would I put for the "Date sold or disposed" part if I sold items on different dates? It's requiring a date.
You can group it together by category by selecting I'll enter a summary for each sales category instead of choosing individual sales.
When you group the sales together TurboTax does not ask for a sales date, however, you would then be required to mail in a paper statement with more detail describing the sale.