A Home Based Business

My husband has someone do our taxes and if we make enough money from Ebay we do claim it. Otherwise we about break even if it isn't a good year considering all my husband puts into the business. You deduct the cost of the item and your ebay and paypal fees to figure out your profit. Remember to keep what they pay for shipping seperate from what you are considering your profit. Then you can claim any shipping materials, computer paper and ink, your home office, mileage on your car for the time you spend going to the post office, etc.

You need to get an accountant. I tried doing it myself and almost pulled my hair out. It was horrible. If you are only selling a few items out of your closet then don't worry about it. Supposedly in 2008 the IRS wants Ebay to start handing over the sales for every seller. Ebay is resisting at the moment, but I know the IRS will win this one.

If you are making a few hundered dollars on Ebay then of course the tax issue is important. They have the tax option on there now as part of the listing activity. That is something that should be studied and applied to your if you are indeed making money from Ebay. It would be more important if W-2's were issued. Again, though if you are making hundreds of dollars then taxes should be at the forefront. We do our own taxes. Don't like paying those fees. Ours is pretty straightforward and we are waiting on a refund since we are considered poor.

I know this is an old discussion however rather than posting something similar I'll say my peice here. I dont really consider ebay a home-based business anymore than i consider the occasional garage sale a home based business. However i read in the news this morning for Canada that we are now expected to report any earnings made on sales for ebay and such. It was just one more thing (on top of the upped fees and more rules for ebay) that made me decide ebay really isnt worth my time to sell the few things i want to sell.