posted on February 17, 2001 02:49:31 PM
I used to have a neighbor that was one of those people who say that the way the IRS is collecting taxes is illegal - and could prove it very convincingly with citations of all the IRS regulations and constitutional quotes. He made the point well taken that the
constitution gives the government power to make specie - coined money but the issue of fiat money issued by the private firm of the Federal Reserve which is not a government agency but backed by the full faith and credit of the government is not ennumerated as a government power.
I agreed with him that most of the points that he made were true BUT IT DID NOT MATTER because the government has all the goons with guns and will take away your property and put you in jail if you don't give them whatever they ask for.
He viewed this as simple cowardice to buckle under. He went in for seven years for tac exasion. I have not heard from him since he got out. We had moved while he was in prison.
posted on February 17, 2001 09:57:42 PM
I am no longer selling my regular merchandise on Ebay. Too many hassles and discrimination for me to tolerate how I am treated there as an adult novelty seller.
This year though in the process of getting ready to move I am having a closet cleaning sale on Ebay.
I paid a fair chunk of income taxes while I was working regular jobs.
I paid sales tax of $8.5% in Los Angeles for a sweater I bought a couple of years ago. I paid $84 for that sweater.
Last week I put it on Ebay for $9.99 and sold it. I paid the listing fee and the FVF. That person paid with paypal so I paid that fee as well.
Ebay wants to cooperate with the IRS to make me pay ADDITIONAL TAXES on the $9.99 I collected from the bidder?
Just how many fees am I/WE supposed to pay for stupid stuff like that?
I can see the IRS looking at some power Ebayer with 10,000+ feedbacks in 2 years times just to see if they are playing fair.
But not all of us are making a killing or a fortune on Ebay.
http://www.lovepotions.net
posted on February 17, 2001 10:03:28 PM
Lovepotions:
If you sell personal items at a loss, there shouldn't be any income tax due. No income when you sell for less than you bought it for.
Steve
[email protected]
Q: I've got a question that i have not seen on the boards. My question
is are ebay sellers required to pay any tax's, same for buyer's. Does ebay report
to I.R.S. about our transactions? I'm just getting started and don't want to find out
later on that IRS require's my presence at a Federal Pennitentary to mop floor's with
some guy named BUBBA, because I sold Yard Sale book's on Ebay. Please enlighten me on
this matter of tax's, Thank you!!!
A: We'd sure hate to hear that you were in there with BUBBA too!
Actually, eBay functions as a venue much like a newspaper offering classified ad space for the purpose of bringing sellers and buyers together. We have no way of knowing for sure if a transaction is actually completed
so we do not report sales to the IRS. It is the responsibility of each seller to maintain accurate sales records and abide by the national, state and local tax laws.
You might ask the other knowledgeable sellers in the community how they deal with this on our "User-to-User" Q&A Board. They would be your best resource of information for this situation.
posted on February 18, 2001 12:46:51 AM
Bohica: "Talk to any waitperson - the effing IRS has decided long ago that they earn a fixed percentage of the checks they write in "tips" - and they tax them on this un-proven
"income"
Excellent point, I was waiting for someone to make it. The same rule also applies for pizza delivery drivers. The IRS tries this gimmick every time there is lots of undocumented cash flowing about.
The best defense against the IRS is always good records. With no records they get to apply all kinds of bogus forumulas to your situation. Good records puts the burden on them.
posted on February 18, 2001 08:03:07 AMMONTECHRISTO
I have been reading the thread you started and am quite amazed at the gullibility of you as well as other AW users.
The FACT is, the IRS cannot under ANY circumstance manufacture unearned income with which to tax you for. This notion of a cap on the percentage of "gross revenue that can be claimed as a buying expense" is not only ludicrous, but an outright violation of federal law, not to mention the U.S. Constitution.
The amount you pay for an item you sell IS a buying expense. As a matter of fact, if you buy something for $20 and sell it for $18, that should actually count as a $2 loss. They don't put a cap on how much of a loss you can take on a stock that went bad, do they? Yes, you would claim the proceeds from the sale, but that is weighed against the amount you paid----NO cap.
The IRS has been beseiged with bad press and congressional hearings and is not about to enact a policy that is not only statutorally unsound, but will create outrage among the masses---who will again put pressure on their congressmen to take yet another close look at IRS operations.
[ edited by battlecreek25 on Feb 18, 2001 08:15 AM ]
posted on February 18, 2001 08:43:48 AM
Oh well, either way, no biggie, we report all of our sales and have an excellent CPA. You can take deductions against your selling expenses if you don't report your sales, and I have lots of selling deductions including my computers, phone lines, ISP accounts, etc. etc. - certainly, we report.
posted on February 18, 2001 08:47:21 AM
I read recently that during an IRS audit, you are not required to bring any paperwork other than the return for the years in question. The auditors cannot make you show them anything, and they cannot base any decisions on records they have not seen.
"My possessions are causing me suspicion." - Neil Finn
posted on February 18, 2001 08:57:57 AM
Unless things have changed in the last few years, they do ask you to bring your return, your receipts and your bank statements.
We brought everything but the bank statement, my husband told him he was not bringing that, he brought cancelled checks that had a bearing on the audit. The auditor threatened to supoena the bank statement. My husband told him go ahead and he could look at the one he supoenaed, but that being the case, we would not ever use a bank in the future. He dropped that.
They do put arbitrary limits or amounts or percentages on items. For instance, (this is based on a few 8 years ago) an outside salesman can only start to count his mileage at his first call or 35 miles from homes, which every comes first. Now most salesmen do not adhere to this, but it is (or was) there and inforceable. One tried to convince me it was the first call, even if it was 200 miles. I told him we had better just stop here and go on to the next level in this proceeding because I was not accepting that. He closed his book, and grinned and said it looked like everything was OK-- and maybe we should keep better records on such and such.
Also wait (resses, ers, persons, people) do have taxes withheld from their whopping 2.65 an hour based on 15% of the price of food served at their tables. Now, I don't know if you kept scrupulous counts of your tips, if you count refute this or not.
But there are many percentages, amount, depreciation schedules, etc., that are very arbitrary in the IRS.
posted on February 18, 2001 09:51:23 AM
I think I will move to Mexico near a border town where I can continue selling on ebay and NOT have to pay the IRS !!!
posted on February 18, 2001 10:41:56 AM
You do have the right to be secure in your house and property, but the IRS can subponea your paperwork if you don't show it. Another tactic they use is they can go to your bank and ask them for the info. The banks usually cooperate, but even if they don't the IRS can subponea it.
You have to wonder why Americans have put up with this tax system for so long? The income tax was designed to raise money only during wars, when the extra money was needed.
I like cix' idea. By the way, did you know Clinton tried to enact an Exit Tax to keep Millionaires from leaving this country? He wanted to tax them at a rate of 90%. Must be lots of millionaires leaving! Eventually that tax will be enacted when millions of American flee this dying country, so now's a good time to plan moving your assets out of here. I know you love this country, and I'm sure many Russians love their country too.
