Done Hoarding, Clearing Out, Tax Questions! (USA)

former-member · 2017-12-18T13:47:44.000Z

So in 2011 I started hoarding Lego... not bulk sets, but I had an obsession with buying one of each. This year I realized how much I had been spending and had to cut it off and start cleaning it out. I had no idea how much the stuff was going to rise in value and I started with the most valuable sets and cleared out my 50 per month on eBay without having to pay any listing fees. I got tired of being that chick who had two full rooms in her house loaded with bags of Lego sets. I've never hoarded anything else, but for some reason I started buying Lego sets. I was able to go cold turkey thankfully starting January 1, 2017, and just want to clear them out. So now I sit at well over 40k in sales on eBay this year and no idea what to expect come tax time. I had no idea it was going to blow up like this and was completely unprepared. I will of course consult a professional but the year is closing and I wanted to get a grasp of what I am in store for, and what I should do going forward to help lower my tax liability as there is still a good deal to unload. One thing I do have is each of my purchases in bags with their receipts, so I have my initial investment cost. First, I never registered as an official business or set up an actual eBay store. Am I able to claim any of deductions like a "home office deduction" or any of the shipping and eBay/Paypal fees? Or is that only available to people who register as an actual business? Does anyone know off hand what tax forms they use for their deductions so I can look them over to maybe get a grasp on what I'm in for this year. From my understanding my base tax liability is something like "Sale Price - (initial cost + shipping + eBay/Paypal fees)". Is that correct? One good thing anyways is I've spent very little of the eBay money I've made so I should have no issue paying the tax man when he comes around. Sorry that it's all a bit jumbled. Thank you so much for all the help and knowledge!