Selling Personal Books on Amazon.com - Tax Forum - Tax Help Forum, Payroll Tax Forum, Business Tax Forum, Tax Questions, Free Tax Advice

CrowdedMill · 01-30-2010, 07:48 PM

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This past year my wife convinced me to start selling off some of the thousands of books that I have collected in my life. I listed many on Amazon.com, and sold nearly 400 throughout the year.

Now, I know that Amazon.com doesn't issue 1099 forms (yet), but I want to report my income from the sales. I have added the $$ that Amazon sent me as income into my tax software. Now the question I have is, how do I take a deduction for the cost of the books I have sold?

I was hoping that I could just take a deduction for the cost that I paid for the book (or, an estimation of that), but since I didn't pay for the books in the same tax year, I was looking for some suggestions on how to handle that. I am really hoping that I don't need to manage my books listings as "inventory". That may be more hassle than I want to engage in to just sell off some books that my wife is tired of having boxed in the basement.

Skyhawk · 02-05-2010, 04:58 PM

The books are personal assets and would result in either a gain or loss upon their sale. The amount of income is determined by the selling price LESS the cost of the asset. A gain would be taxable as a capital gain and would be reported on a Schedule D (Form 1040). A loss would NOT be deductible as it is a personal loss. You would net all of your sales and costs in order to determine if you have a net gain or loss for the tax year, e.g. 2009.