Reporting sold car as a loss

[lighter1]

I purchased a car in 2008 for $6000 from dealership and sold it in 2019 to an individual for $500. May I report the sell to basically report a loss so I would owe less to the IRS while paying my tax due?

I was reading somewhere in turtobax community that I should report a Car Sell if I gained from that but I don't need to report if I have a loss from the sale and I'm a bit confused with that. As an experiment I added that sale in Wages/Income->Other Investment and my Tax Due was reduced taking into account the loss but I'm not sure whether I'm actually allowed to claim the loss to be deducted from my Tax Due I have so far.

[ee-ea · Accepted solution]

Losses on the sale of personal property are not deductible.

[lighter1]

Thanks, but if I enter tht sale in TurboTax just because I want to report *all* sales I made - then TurboTax does make the deduction, how to proceed in this situation? If I don't enter it at all I'm afraid I will violate the law but if I enter it the TurboTax will apply the deduction and will violate the law as well?

[CatinaT1]

You will not enter this.  It is personal property and any loss is not deductible or reportable.

[lighter1]

Thanks. If I also sold another car in 2019 and got a gain from the sell  do I need to report it in TurboTax?

[JohnB5677]

Yes, If you do make money off your car, that would be considered profit and therefore taxable income.