When my column on paying income tax on eBay profits ran it brought a wave of emails on whether you were required to report income earned from eBay sales to the IRS sparked a number of additional questions and comments from eBay sellers who were hoping that I could somehow validate that their eBay activities were mere hobbies instead of actual businesses and therefore not susceptible to IRS taxation.
Several folks argued that just because their little eBay hobby generated a little cash, that didnt make it a full blown business. It seems they consider the income from their little hobby to be financial manna from Heaven and thereby not taxable by earthly tax collectors. Ive always been amused by folks who try to impress me with talk about their little side business but when the subject turns to taxes they suddenly refer to it as my little hobby.
All arguments aside, the conclusion that I came to after reading each of the emails was always the same: while you may think selling on eBay is just a fun pastime and the money you’re making is not reportable as income, depending on the circumstances, the IRS would probably disagree with you.
It seems that...