Figuring out hobby income amounts

[rwom1217]

I sold some hobby related items that I had purchased over the course of some years.  I spent $4,400 on the items, then sold them for $9,600 (rough numbers).   Would I enter $9,600 in the hobby income line and $4,400 in the expenses line, or just $5,200 (subtracting what I paid for the items) in income as that is my actual profit?  (I'm not including expenses like vehicle use, etc in any of these numbers.)

[Anonymous_]

What do you mean, exactly, by "hobby related items"?

If you owned assets that you sold and were not inventory, odds are they are capital assets and you would report gain from the sale of those assets on Form 8949 and Schedule D.

[rwom1217]

Products sold at retail stores - I bought some of it at Walmart.

[Anonymous_]

If they were not purchased for resale, then they are capital assets and the gain generated from their sale is capital gain.

[rwom1217]

They were not purchased for the purpose of resale.  They were items I bought to keep/use for the sake of my hobby, then their value went up significantly so I sold some of it to be able to purchase other hobby related items (again, retail type items).  It was stuff like shoes, fishing rods, and backpacks (not necessarily those specifically, just clarifying that it was retail type items).  Much of it was still unused when sold. 

What page of TT would I enter it? 

I thought it went in Personal Income > Less Common Income > Misc Income > Hobby income expenses > Income received (and possibly Hobby expense??)

If these are capital assets, would it still go in Hobby income?  I'm just trying to figure out the right place to input the numbers.

[Anonymous_]

No, not hobby income. You would enter the items in the same manner as if you sold a stock, bond, mutual fund. et al.

So, you need to know what you paid for each item and, of course, the sale price and enter the transactions in the Investment Income section of the program.

[rwom1217]

Thanks for your response.  I am confused though, so I appreciate your help!  I don't understand how these are similar to stocks and such.  Perhaps it's just a semantics thing or the way it's worded in TT.

If I love to fish and collect lures (only purchased, none that I made myself), then happen to sell some of them for a profit (not because I intended it that way, but because the ones I already had happened to go up in value), then use that money to buy more lures and fishing poles, the money made would fall under Stocks, Mutual Funds, etc?

[Anonymous_]

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@rwom1217 wrote:

........I don't understand how these are similar to stocks and such.  Perhaps it's just a semantics thing or the way it's worded in TT.

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Yes, it is actually just a "semantics thing" in TurboTax. Enter the sales price, date sold, date acquired, and your cost in that section.

[rwom1217]

OK, thanks for clarifying that. I'll have to get into it and see what I can figure out.  I was unaware I needed to be keeping records.  I can go through emails and such to find what I sold and can figure a pretty close estimate to what I paid, but I've no idea of exactly when I bought most of it or how much I paid, so I'll have to estimate it.  Thank you for your help.

[rwom1217]

After entering them, they are listed as "No Financial Institution" under Institution Name.  This seems right, but want to make sure I didn't miss something.

[Anonymous_]

No, that would be correct.