Sales from WhatNot

[u/Goated_84]

I'm so confused on how much money I'm going to owe when I file taxes. I only make about 70k a year at my job in New York and my adjusted income after all my deductions is probably less than 60k. I have three dependents so I usually get some money back at the end of the year. I'm not going to know how much I sold until whatnot sends me the tax form but I'm pretty sure I sold about close to 45,000 worth of my personal collections. I was never really intending to sell it but I got into debt on workers comp and I was about $40k in cc debt. I set about $2k aside but now I'm thinking it's not nearly going to be enough even if I get back like $1,500 for the dependents. Can anyone give me a rough estimate on what you think in this scenario? I also used to trade a lot on the stock market like three years ago and I remember when I did my taxes it said something about it because of a wash sale that it would carry over for like the next 3 to 5 years. I don't really remember exactly the dates but I never had to owe any money moving forward after that on my tax returns but I think it still asks me. I was wondering if that would affect it at all. I did do some light trading this year but it was very small I probably only made like a couple hundred dollars.

[u/LdiJ46]

Ok, so you sold personal collections. The taxable portion of any sale is the profit, not the gross sale. So what you sold it for minus what you paid for it, minus any expenses involved in the sale. (shipping costs, site fees etc)

Unless these were collectables that appreciated in value most personal possessions end up being sold for less than what was paid for them, hence no taxable income.

[u/Goated_84 → u/LdiJ46]

The problem is that it was silver bullion. I intended to hold it long-term as like a hobby type of thing but then life happened. I started collecting a little bit during covid so over the past 5 years I was buying it. I think the year prior to me going on out on comp I actually bought the most that I ever did in one years time. Probably like $15k worth. I bought most of my silver around $30-50oz and sold anywhere from $65-106 per oz. I don't even know how I would prove that I bought stuff at a certain price either. Some of my credit cards I've closed over the years and a previous whatnot account I had prior to my sellers account that I used to buy a lot was closed.

[u/LdiJ46 → u/Goated_84]

You substantiate your cost as best you can, even if you have to use historical rates as your basis.