Reporting Taxes for Small Online Sales

You don't.

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I believe if you don't make more than $10k working for someone or company you don't need to report it.

go to irs.gov to confirm.

mach_six said:

I believe if you don't make more than $10k working for someone or company you don't need to report it.

go to irs.gov to confirm.

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Yeah I recall something about that was well. Also, your income is lower than the standard deduction so you won't own any taxes anyway. I'd use a free tax program to recoup anything you paid through your employer on the $1000 though which means filing.

Anything more than $500 needs to be reported. But i wouldn't sweat it in your case.

Unless something has changed, full time students don't pay taxes.

It's one of the silly aspects of a tax code that even the IRS doesn't fully understand and admits it can't enforce 100%.

The $ cutoff to get a 1099 is $600. So uncle sam knows about it.

If he paid you as an employee and deducted state, etc, etc. you would have to file to get a refund.

As for the online sale, the only concern there is state tax authorities and if it's a one-off transaction it's a "casual sale" in most states and you should have no issues.

If you're selling livestock, there was a huge thread on Reefcentral a couple of years ago where a Florida wildlife officer tracked a lady down trying to sell coral frags on Craigslist I believe. THAT was a scary mess. They were also "attending" some club frag swaps too.

peachii said:

Unless something has changed, full time students don't pay taxes.

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I am not sure how it works in the US, but students in Canada still have to pay taxes, depending on how much they earn.

However, in general, students do not make enough per year to go over their personal exemption (which is about $10,000 in Canada). Then, there are usually further deductibles (there is a tuition/textbook deductible, etc).

For students that are dependents, the unused portion of the deductible can be shifted over to the guardian's tax return.

At least that's how I've always done my taxes

As for the original question, I wouldn't worry about reporting it.

peachii said:

Unless something has changed, full time students don't pay taxes.

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Everybody pays taxes, Federal & State & city, if it's over an amount/annual income. It varies from state to state for State taxes. Go to your state's website and they'll tell you. As for federal, you need to file. As for city, they usually want any piece of the action. Be prepared to get a call if you don't file for city.

By the way, those 2 incomes are different types, so you'll need different forms. But then I wouldn't sweat it since the total is small.

You are correct that was a to general answer from me, been a few years since I dealt with other people's taxes for them. Curiosity made me go look it up since I couldn't remember the specifics - age, income, school, and whether you are being claimed as a dependent go to whether you pay taxes in the US. Pretty sure in my old manager job, I never had a full time student that wasn't being claimed as a dependent but that was an assumption, shouldn't assume on that.

Here's the IRS questionnaire, based on your answers it'll tell you.

http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/Do-You-Need-to-File-a-Federal-Income-Tax-Return?

I had to file taxes as a student. We worked as paid interns. The reason you need to file is you'll get money back from the gov!

mistergreen said:

I had to file taxes as a student. We worked as paid interns. The reason you need to file is you'll get money back from the gov!

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+ 1 to what Mistergreen said. If you had an employer pay you then you would be wise to file a tax return because you will qualify for earned income credit since your income was so little and you will get a refund.

Everyone pays taxes even full time students. If that was the case I would have alot more money in my pocket.

Be careful with how a company treats "unpaid" interns. Even the stingiest of them will pay a nominal amount per week to cover transportation, etc. So that if you're an "unpaid intern" getting paid $50 per week to cover transportation for the spring semester and summer, and are lucky enough to find a full-time job with a different company in the fall, you should expect to get a "1099" the following January. That lets Uncle Sam know that you have income to report for all those weeks you were an "unpaid" intern, if you cross the $600 threshold. If you do cross the $600 mark, put a few dollars aside for the tax bite.