Selling Items for a Friend on Ebay

[BradTeachesNV]

Hi everyone.  I have a predicament.  For reasons not  needed to answer this question, my friend, who runs a business primarily on Ebay, asked that I sell some items for him.  His business is well established and files his taxes accordingly.  I would be selling the items and then paying him for what they sold for (minus Ebay fees).  The value of the items could reach upwards of $30k, so Ebay will obviously be sending a a 1099.  The issue is that I have student loan payments that are income based, so my income can't look like it increased by that much.  I file married but separate (this is the best status to file with to keep student loan payments down) and I typically take the standard deduction. 

I guess I'm hoping that something exists that I can "transfer" that income to him so that my gross income doesn't look like it's increased, because in reality, it wouldn't have, as I would pay him for everything that sold.  He's ready to pay the tax bill for it if something like this is possible.  If there is something, are there forms we'd both have to fill out?  Would using the standard deduction change?  

Thanks in advance for the help. 

[tagteam · Accepted solution]

You really do need to figure out a different methodology here for the future but you could use nominee reporting for this (and note that it is not uncomplicated).

See https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i1099gi#en_US_2022_publink1000286907

[BradTeachesNV]

Thank you for this.  I'm open to ideas on how we can make this work better.  As a note, I received a 1099 for the items I sold for him for 2022, but it was only around 800 dollars, so I'm not all that worried about it.  I planned on selling the rest of the items for him assuming there was a work around for the income thing.  Is there something else I should do instead before selling the items?  Or a different way I should approach?  For a little more context, the items are something that seem to fall in the gray area of Ebay's posting guidelines.  It's nothing illegal or anything.  He has a well established account with Ebay.  This comes with discounts on shipping and fees, so he can't risk action taken on his account if Ebay decides they don't want the items posted.  I'm not worried about my account status as a seller, so that's why I'm selling instead of him.  

Thank you!

[tagteam · Accepted solution]

The optimum would clearly be not using your name and tax ID for the sales but, failing that, you are stuck with nominee reporting (which is obviously a pain).

[BradTeachesNV]

No doubt about that! That's what I get for doing favors! Thanks again for your help.  Might file with an CPA instead of doing it myself.

Thanks!