You will be liable for tax on the profit only.
The first question would be "Are you selling this as an occupation (Schedule C Self-Employed Taxpayer) or was this a one time event similar to a garage sale?"
If this is an occupation, you might have an inventory of books. You would report the full income on Schedule C (as Self-Employed) and then also claim the expenses of the items you sold. You could also claim expenses such as a home office or supplies. Eventually, you would claim the profit as self-employed income and pay income tax as well as Self-Employment tax (FICA). You can be Self-Employed and also hold a W-2 job, in which case you would file a W-2 for the job income and a Schedule C for the Self-Employment.
You would use TurboTax Home and Business Desktop or Self-Employed Online.
If this was more like selling personal items in an online garage sale, you would report the income as capital gain.
- Wages & Income
- Investment Income
- Stocks, Cryptocurrency, Mutual Funds, Bonds, Other
- START
- Add Investments
- Skip Import
- Other (for investment type)
- Continue
- Select "Personal items" from the "what type of investment did you sell?" and continue
You must separate any short-term sales (sales of items you owned for less than one year) from Long-Term (owned one year or more) and also items sold at a gain from those that sold at a loss. As personal items, you must claim the gain, but you can't deduct (subtract) the loss.
The gain (on personal sales) will be reported and taxed as Capital Gain on your return.
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