Anyone else received a 1099-K?

Quote from BargainSnatcher : If you did $1/2m a year, you could. But you purchased a car to take $20k's worth of packages? If they question that, they will dig deeper elsewhere too. And if they uncover a certain dollar amount then they will go back 7 years on your tax returns and then it can get VERY expensive. Just be honest. I don't know what your other income is, but if you are honest your taxes really are not going to be that high.

OH SH!T !!!! I didn't know that.

Crap I will just be reasonable then....

thanks ! repped.

And also keep in mind the IRS can just throw a figure at you and its up to you to prove they are wrong.

File your taxes as if you know you are going to get audited. Its just not worth trying to fiddle the numbers.

Quote from BargainSnatcher : And also keep in mind the IRS can just throw a figure at you and its up to you to prove they are wrong. File your taxes as if you know you are going to get audited. Its just not worth trying to fiddle the numbers.

Yeah I will....just gotta find all my cost and expenses and receipts

You know how when vendors charge you sales tax if they ship it to their own state and if they ship it to another state they don't charge the customers sales tax? How does that work?

So since I didn't charge my customers sales tax, and shipped my packages out of state does that mean I don't have to pay tax for those sales/gross?

Quote from canonikon : You know how when vendors charge you sales tax if they ship it to their own state and if they ship it to another state they don't charge the customers sales tax? How does that work? So since I didn't charge my customers sales tax, and shipped my packages out of state does that mean I don't have to pay tax for those sales/gross?

Sales tax is a local/state tax and not a federal thing. Its completely different.

If you were operating as a business, you really should have been registered with the state for sales tax (depending on your state and any threshold limits they have). There is actually a benefit to this. If you are registered, depending on where you buy your stuff to sell you can buy that stuff tax exempt. The only catch is you have to collect tax on any sales but ONLY to your state. If you do a big volume to states like NY then you have to collect there but most small-to-medium sellers don't have to worry about that. I do online sales for a living and what i save in sales tax far exceeds what i have to pay to my state.

Not every store allows tax exempt shopping, but most of the big box ones do. And you can only do tax exempt shopping on items you are going to sell, not that LED tv for your bedroom or even packing supplies.

Quote from BargainSnatcher : Sales tax is a local/state tax and not a federal thing. Its completely different. If you were operating as a business, you really should have been registered with the state for sales tax (depending on your state and any threshold limits they have). There is actually a benefit to this. If you are registered, depending on where you buy your stuff to sell you can buy that stuff tax exempt. The only catch is you have to collect tax on any sales but ONLY to your state. If you do a big volume to states like NY then you have to collect there but most small-to-medium sellers don't have to worry about that. I do online sales for a living and what i save in sales tax far exceeds what i have to pay to my state. Not every store allows tax exempt shopping, but most of the big box ones do. And you can only do tax exempt shopping on items you are going to sell, not that LED tv for your bedroom or even packing supplies.

I don't sell a lot, I just buy stuff that's slickdeal on here and sell it on ebay for very little profit, sometimes I get stuff that's like $200 and sell it for $250.

Wow, online sales for a living, that's awesome man. I want to do that but if I do that I will not survive with so little profit that I can make.

What do you sell? How do you do it? Where can I start? I really want to quit my job and do something that I want and good at....can you PM me and be my mentor?

Quote from canonikon : I don't sell a lot, I just buy stuff that's slickdeal on here and sell it on ebay for very little profit, sometimes I get stuff that's like $200 and sell it for $250. Wow, online sales for a living, that's awesome man. I want to do that but if I do that I will not survive with so little profit that I can make. What do you sell? How do you do it? Where can I start? I really want to quit my job and do something that I want and good at....can you PM me and be my mentor?

If you are buying for $200 and selling for $250, you must be making next to no profit. I work on small margins, but i wouldn't work to that. Its not worth it when you factor in returns, problems etc.

I sell anything i can find that can be flipped for a profit....books, dvds, toys, electronics, video games, tools, even things like shampoo. If i can flip it for a profit and its legal, i'll flip it.

I do it through already well established selling platforms

Sorry, i do mentor people from time to time but i just took another seller under my wing not too long ago. But there is lots of good sources for info out there. I spent a lot of time reading up on info out there, and you can even find a lot of info on youtube, just don't listen to everyone as some people sell maybe 20-50 items a month and think they are some kind of hot s**t at selling. You can often find the sellers storefront and their feedback numbers can be an indication as to how much business they do. It also helps if you are good with numbers.

Quote from BargainSnatcher : If you are buying for $200 and selling for $250, you must be making next to no profit. I work on small margins, but i wouldn't work to that. Its not worth it when you factor in returns, problems etc. I sell anything i can find that can be flipped for a profit....books, dvds, toys, electronics, video games, tools, even things like shampoo. If i can flip it for a profit and its legal, i'll flip it. I do it through already well established selling platforms Sorry, i do mentor people from time to time but i just took another seller under my wing not too long ago. But there is lots of good sources for info out there. I spent a lot of time reading up on info out there, and you can even find a lot of info on youtube, just don't listen to everyone as some people sell maybe 20-50 items a month and think they are some kind of hot s**t at selling. You can often find the sellers storefront and their feedback numbers can be an indication as to how much business they do. It also helps if you are good with numbers.

What are the platforms? other than ebay, amazon, craigslist?

Quote from canonikon : What are the platforms? other than ebay, amazon, craigslist?

You just listed all the good ones

Quote from BargainSnatcher : You just listed all the good ones

lol alright thank you for your info ! repped

So, be careful where you give your SSN. Paypal would have blocked you before you would have reached 20k or 200 transaction limit.

Never give SSN no matter what except for IRS and bank related stuff.

Since limit is yearly, you can wait for next year to sell. I was about to hit the limit but paypal blocked me.

you gotta make sure that jan 2012 gross receipts match your jan 2012 gross receipts. Otherwise, you will be in a heap of trouble trying to explain why your records don't match PayPal. Its a lot of work, better get to it...


there's a program called quicken. you can download all your transactions for the year and set up your categories for expense and income. I don't think downloading straight from PayPal works, so you can use the money you withdraw from your PayPal account as income sometimes (as long as you are not spending from it either)...

Quote from hermano : you gotta make sure that jan 2012 gross receipts match your jan 2012 gross receipts. Otherwise, you will be in a heap of trouble trying to explain why your records don't match PayPal. Its a lot of work, better get to it... there's a program called quicken. you can download all your transactions for the year and set up your categories for expense and income. I don't think downloading straight from PayPal works, so you can use the money you withdraw from your PayPal account as income sometimes (as long as you are not spending from it either)...

You mean the expense receipts?

expense receipts won't line up obviously since your gross sales has to be more than your expense receipts (unless you're a lousy business person or shady on purpose).

any time you get a tax document that shows income, you better have a way to present your income so it matches exactly.


from your question, you sound like you need to speak with a tax accountant or tax agent and learn what it means to run a small business and how to file taxes. you can feign ignorance early on, but after that... you have no excuses really.