team_andromeda
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$50 from me if things go south, man. Good luck!
So, Paypal GIFT does count as income
- Thread starter mjmjr25
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Hope you get this figured out Mike. The itemization will be a royal pain but you should only have to worry about the net.
lolifoxgirl
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Going to have to start mailing money snail mail.
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Certainly seems like it.
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Yea, if I ever dump the majority of my collection it will be at ng.com bro pricing but with USPS money order payments or WU money transfers only.
Sorry to hear about that Mike not fun shit to have to deal with on top of doing your regular taxes. About a decade ago I started tracking my online purchases/payments with paypal and it was a rather large PITA. At the time I was buying and selling a lot on feebay. Hopefully you get it all sorted out.
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We can also start using other alternative forms of electronic payment, most of them more convenient and reasonable than PayPal. I'm no tax law expert and I assume that these even have some of these same ("we report you at 20k") pitfalls.
Venmo - https://venmo.com/
Square Cash - https://cash.me/
Google Wallet - https://www.google.com/wallet/
etc.
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Man that sucks Mike. I would definitely seek a real accountant as well. Perhaps print out some of the threads from the group buys.
I would be willing to help as well.
I've already sold over $14,000 in games and records on eBay this year. I better be really careful from now on. Really glad you posted this.
I would be willing to help as well.
I've already sold over $14,000 in games and records on eBay this year. I better be really careful from now on. Really glad you posted this.
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So, doesn't look very good right now.
As I went back through this stuff last night - it looks like the red flag for gift as income is when a buyer puts an address in the subject line. Meaning, the payment is sent as gift, but in the subject line they write their address. However, when the buyer puts the item, ie "Ketsui PCB" in the subject line, that doesn't move it over as income. There must a be a filter that scans gift payment subject lines for addresses? Anyways - that's one thing to be aware of.
Back to my meeting today - If I can specifically prove a payment is tied specifically to a purchase I made; then those can be a wash. However, essentially most of my information is circumstantial and doesn't meet the criteria of an expense.
More detailed - I can show a GB thread I started, a list of members ordering an a flashcart, an invoice paid from my account for flashcarts, and me shipping out items that would cost about the weight of a flashcart. However, the actual payments that are being considered income are not invoiced, they are not linked to a website or ebay item with an ID, they are simply payments showing up in my account.
Example: Payment received $103.50. Net payment $100. Note from buyer: "Thanks" or "NG Member mjmjr25" or "Please ship to: address here". I don't have anyway to prove that most of these payments are specifically tied to the items I say they are. I can circumstantially make that case with GB threads, payment sent and received dates, and shipping labels sent to that person, but it just doesn't meet the criteria according to this accountant today. On the payments where the buyer paid as goods or gift and said, "For SD2SNES, please ship to: address here" - those I can take out as income. I can also take out shipping payments - which was about $3,500 for 2014. A rough look - we can refile as a small business and I can cancel out about 8K of the 23K income, so i'll owe about $5K instead of $7K. I'll owe the accountant roughly $250-400 (estimates 5-8 hours to itemize and refile). So, I may knock a net of $1,500 off this bill.
I've got an appt. w/her Monday. I then called a second accountant just for a 2nd opinion on this. I go see her tonight at 630p.
My wife is pretty nervous - I make a decent salary, but with a family of 6, we still are mostly paycheck to paycheck with a small dose to savings and 401K each check. She's incredibly worried we'll have to cancel family vacation and some other plans this summer. I've let her know i'd sell some of my tools, cards, or arcade stuff before that happens. Shameless plug - for arcade / game stuff, i'd want it to be like a band-aid, big stuff up and gone, fast. It would be too painful to nickel and dime it. So, depending on what she says tonight - you can somewhat anticipate a big tymer sale tonight or tomorrow.
Also - again, thank you all for the offers of help. That's a pretty awesome thing. A few of you have even pm'd privately to offer help - it's just been really cool to see, so again, thank you.
As I went back through this stuff last night - it looks like the red flag for gift as income is when a buyer puts an address in the subject line. Meaning, the payment is sent as gift, but in the subject line they write their address. However, when the buyer puts the item, ie "Ketsui PCB" in the subject line, that doesn't move it over as income. There must a be a filter that scans gift payment subject lines for addresses? Anyways - that's one thing to be aware of.
Back to my meeting today - If I can specifically prove a payment is tied specifically to a purchase I made; then those can be a wash. However, essentially most of my information is circumstantial and doesn't meet the criteria of an expense.
More detailed - I can show a GB thread I started, a list of members ordering an a flashcart, an invoice paid from my account for flashcarts, and me shipping out items that would cost about the weight of a flashcart. However, the actual payments that are being considered income are not invoiced, they are not linked to a website or ebay item with an ID, they are simply payments showing up in my account.
Example: Payment received $103.50. Net payment $100. Note from buyer: "Thanks" or "NG Member mjmjr25" or "Please ship to: address here". I don't have anyway to prove that most of these payments are specifically tied to the items I say they are. I can circumstantially make that case with GB threads, payment sent and received dates, and shipping labels sent to that person, but it just doesn't meet the criteria according to this accountant today. On the payments where the buyer paid as goods or gift and said, "For SD2SNES, please ship to: address here" - those I can take out as income. I can also take out shipping payments - which was about $3,500 for 2014. A rough look - we can refile as a small business and I can cancel out about 8K of the 23K income, so i'll owe about $5K instead of $7K. I'll owe the accountant roughly $250-400 (estimates 5-8 hours to itemize and refile). So, I may knock a net of $1,500 off this bill.
I've got an appt. w/her Monday. I then called a second accountant just for a 2nd opinion on this. I go see her tonight at 630p.
My wife is pretty nervous - I make a decent salary, but with a family of 6, we still are mostly paycheck to paycheck with a small dose to savings and 401K each check. She's incredibly worried we'll have to cancel family vacation and some other plans this summer. I've let her know i'd sell some of my tools, cards, or arcade stuff before that happens. Shameless plug - for arcade / game stuff, i'd want it to be like a band-aid, big stuff up and gone, fast. It would be too painful to nickel and dime it. So, depending on what she says tonight - you can somewhat anticipate a big tymer sale tonight or tomorrow.
Also - again, thank you all for the offers of help. That's a pretty awesome thing. A few of you have even pm'd privately to offer help - it's just been really cool to see, so again, thank you.
lolifoxgirl
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People were writing their address in gift payments?
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This. I hate this. Trying to get around paypal's fees and then they just go and prove that they're paying for goods is
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I appreciate that and all of the other comments. However, the figure is like 50 guys/gals putting in $100 apiece. That's just beyond beyond and i'd feel very Pope-ey if I even considered taking that help. This does suck, but it also is what it is. There are definitely people in much worse situations. I had one of my security officers contract meningitis last December, after months in hospital; the meningitis is gone, but he was left totally blind and partially deaf. After just helping coordinate a benefit to raise money for him in his family - the absolute last thing I could do is accept money from my friends here for something like this. The sentiment is real and that means so much to me. Ultimately the purpose of this thread is to alert others to be wary. I've already heard from a couple members who also have 1099's (including one guy who found one for 2014 he didn't know about) - the circumstances are a little different, but it doesn't make it less painful.
The wife thing - my wife is the kindest person any of us will ever meet, but she doesn't handle stress well...at all. I can swallow hard, cut a check, and pinch pennies for a good while, but she will be a nervous wreck for the 5-6 months it will take to recoup that. For that reason I feel obligated to get this resolved quickly. I'll probably put up a chunk of my stuff tonight.
I did meet with a second accountant tonight and she basically echoed the sentiments of the first.
lolifoxgirl
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Im sorry to hear that mj. Let me know if I can help you at all, you did me a kindness in december and deserve better than what you are getting on this.
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You're a good dude Mike, sorry to see this happen to you. As much as it sucks, at least you're able to handle it gracefully and keep perspective. I commend you for that.
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I don't recall taking part in any group buys, but I've bought a few things from Mike. My condolences to the tax issues.
The upcoming sell-off is going towards paying off the tax right? I may have to break the budget and help out with that.
The upcoming sell-off is going towards paying off the tax right? I may have to break the budget and help out with that.