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Deduct costs from non-business online sales.

How would I deduct the cost of items I sell online and the cost of shipping them from the amount shown on the 1099 I receive from the online platform? I am not operating an ongoing online business.

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PaulD CPA
Employee Tax Expert

Deduct costs from non-business online sales.

Hi Solatido, You said that you're not operating a business.  Were the items you sold purchased with the intent to profit from reselling them?  If so, the IRS considers this to be business income and the following would not be applicable.... 

If you're reselling personal items you no longer need, you most likely paid more for each item when new than you ultimately sold it for in used condition. The cost basis would be the lower of the cost you paid for them or the Fair Market Value when you converted them from personal use to resale. What's the Fair Market Value (FMV)? The going price on marketplaces including eBay / Poshmark could be used as FMV. Unless you sold rare items that increased in value after you purchased them, your cost basis would be the same as the amount the eBay / Poshmark customers paid you. When personal items are resold, gains are taxable and losses are non-deductible.

 

Here's a link to a similar question that details the steps to take to report the 1099-K amounts as Other Income and an additional entry of negative amount for your costs that offset that income. Be sure this offset amount doesn't exceed the sum of the amounts reported on the 1099-K forms you receive because that would cause your other income to be negative (loss), which isn't allowed for the sale of personal items such as used clothing. The end result is that you've reported this income but it's not taxed because of the offsetting costs. I recommend Option B detailed here: 1099k paypal for personal items

 

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3 Replies
PaulD CPA
Employee Tax Expert

Deduct costs from non-business online sales.

Hi Solatido, You said that you're not operating a business.  Were the items you sold purchased with the intent to profit from reselling them?  If so, the IRS considers this to be business income and the following would not be applicable.... 

If you're reselling personal items you no longer need, you most likely paid more for each item when new than you ultimately sold it for in used condition. The cost basis would be the lower of the cost you paid for them or the Fair Market Value when you converted them from personal use to resale. What's the Fair Market Value (FMV)? The going price on marketplaces including eBay / Poshmark could be used as FMV. Unless you sold rare items that increased in value after you purchased them, your cost basis would be the same as the amount the eBay / Poshmark customers paid you. When personal items are resold, gains are taxable and losses are non-deductible.

 

Here's a link to a similar question that details the steps to take to report the 1099-K amounts as Other Income and an additional entry of negative amount for your costs that offset that income. Be sure this offset amount doesn't exceed the sum of the amounts reported on the 1099-K forms you receive because that would cause your other income to be negative (loss), which isn't allowed for the sale of personal items such as used clothing. The end result is that you've reported this income but it's not taxed because of the offsetting costs. I recommend Option B detailed here: 1099k paypal for personal items

 

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Deduct costs from non-business online sales.

Thank you very much. Your answer went directly to the heart of my question and was very thorough. I will refer to the links you included for examples and more information.

PaulD CPA
Employee Tax Expert

Deduct costs from non-business online sales.

You're very welcome. and thanks for that great question Solatido!  Because of the reduced threshold of $600, regardless of the number of transactions, there's going to be millions more people getting Form 1099-K early next year for situations just like yours.  

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