How is income tax calculated in relation to selling used items?
If the items you sold are items you previously bought for a higher price, the money you get selling them is not income, as you are taking a loss. However, you cannot deduct such losses. If you sell anything for more than what you paid for, the difference is a gain and is taxable. See this IRS web site for the explanation: https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/tax-tips-for-online-auction-sellers If I sell it for $50 can I write off the $50 loss. Only if you can establish that it is a normal part of your business and that you did not get $50 worth of use out of it.  That's the technical, legal argument.  As a practical matter, it's unlikely that they'll ding you for selling something after using it, as they won't know.  If they did catch you, you would be in trouble.  You can't deduct loss due to personal use.   The larger problem is that if you sell one TV for a $50 loss, they aren't going to believe that you are in the business of selling TVs.  If you sell a larger amount for a loss, then they still are unlikely to believe that you are in business.  If you sell a large amount for an overall gain, they are unlikely to notice that you took a loss on one TV.  They could only notice that if they were already auditing you, as that wouldn't be visible in your tax forms. Yes. This income would be reported on schedule SE. Normally, you will not owe any tax if the amount is less than $400.  Practically, $100 in a garage sale is not why the IRS created the form SE. I wouldn't lose sleep over keeping track of small cash sales over the course of a year. However, if you have the information I'm not going to tell you not to report it.
I received a $2,000 bonus... Gross Income is income from whatever source derived, including (but not limited to) “compensation for services, including fees, commissions, fringe benefits, and similar items.”  Adjusted Gross Income is defined as gross income minus adjustments to income.  My question is, must I still report this money on my tax return and if so, how? Yes, and it would be on line 21 of your 1040 with supporting documentation. Are these legal fees deductible as an expense, and where would I list them? Yes, you would aggregate your deductible expenses and place these on your Schedule A. Instructions here. Good Luck. Edit: As Ben Miller pointed out in the comments, the deduction would be placed in either line 23 or 28 depending on the nature of the attorney (investment related or not). This answer fills in some of the details you are unsure about, since I'm further along than you. I bought the ESPP shares in 2012.  I didn't sell immediately, but in 2015, so I qualify for the long-term capital gains rate. Here's how it was reported: The 15% discount was reported on a W2 as  it was also mentioned twice in the info box (not all of my W2's come with one of these) but also  This showed the sale trade, with my cost basis as the discounted price of $5000. And for interests sake, I also got the following in 2012: WARNING! This means that just going ahead and entering the numbers means you will be taxed twice! once as income and once as capital gains. I only noticed this was happening because I no longer worked for the company, so this W2 only had this one item on it. This is another example of the US tax system baffling me with its blend of obsessive compulsive need for documentation coupled with inexplicably missing information that's critical to sensible accounting. The 1099 documents must (says the IRS since 2015) show the basis value as the award price (your discounted price).   So reading the form 8949: Note: If you checked Box D above but the basis reported to the IRS was   incorrect, enter in column (e) the basis as reported to the IRS, and   enter an adjustment in column (g) to correct the basis. We discover the number is incorrect and must adjust.  The actual value you need to adjust it by may be reported on your 1099, but also may not (I have examples of both). I calculated the required adjustment by looking at the W2, as detailed above. I gleaned this information from the following documents provided by my stock management company (you should the tax resources section of your provider): Hey Forum,  I recently had an update to the app where it now allows you to find out your markup percentage. All you have to do is put in your desired profit at the end of the month and then put in how many items you want to sell each month and the entire formula is calculated for you in less than a second. Extremely convenient and extremely time-saving.  You can download the Android version here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.markupmagic.companymarkup&amp;hl=en   And the iOS here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/markup-magic-profit-calculator/id1183206273?mt=8   We are currently redoing the website so you can look out for that soon enough. :)  As always, suggestions and comments are always welcome as we want this to be the best app it can be for users.  Take care and have a wonderful time. It also depends on where you work. If you move your home and your job then the date you establish residency in the new state is the key date. All income before that date is considered income for state 1, and all income on or after that date is income for state 2.  If there is a big  difference in income you will want to clearly establish residency because it impacts your wallet. If they had the same rates moving wouldn't impact your wallet, but it would impact each state. So make sure when going from high tax state to low tax state that you register your vehicles, register to vote, get a new drivers license... It becomes more complex if you move your home but not your job. In that case where you work might be the deciding factor. Same states have agreed that where you live is the deciding factor; in other cases it is not. For Virginia, Maryland, and DC you pay based on where you live if the two states involved are DC, MD, VA. But if you Live in Delaware and work in Virginia Virginia wants a cut of your income tax.  So before you move you need to research reciprocity for the two states. From Massachusetts information for Nonresident and Part-Year Resident Income, Exemptions, Deductions and Credits Massachusetts gross income includes items of income derived from   sources within Massachusetts. This includes income: a few questions later: Massachusetts residents and part-year residents are allowed a credit   for taxes due to any other jurisdiction. The credit is available only   on income reported and taxed on a Massachusetts return. Nonresidents   may not claim the taxes paid to other jurisdiction credit on their   Massachusetts Form 1-NR/PY. The credit is allowed for income taxes paid to: The credit is not allowed for: taxes paid to the U.S. government or a   foreign country other than Canada; city or local tax; and interest and   penalty paid to another jurisdiction. The computation is based on comparing the Massachusetts income tax on   income reported to the other jurisdiction to the actual tax paid to   the other jurisdiction; the credit is limited to the smaller of these   two numbers. The other jurisdiction credit is a line item on the tax form but you   must calculate it on the worksheet in the instruction booklet and also   enter the credit information on the Schedule OJC. So if you move your house to New Hampshire, but continue to work in Massachusetts you will owe income tax to Massachusetts  for that income even after you move and establish residency in New Hampshire. "Please Note: Before taking any steps towards a transaction involving possible capital gains tax exclusions, please consult your CPA, attorney or tax advisor. I am not a CPA or Tax Advisor. Since you have only lived in it 11 months, you don't meet the ""use test"" for full exclusion. However, even if you haven't lived in it that long, you may be able to exclude some of the gains due to a ""unforeseen circumstance"", not just because you wanted to move. You say you are ""ready for a change"" and so that means it's an arbitrary decision, not a forced one. To calculate the partial exclusion, take the number of months you lived there before the sale and divide it by 24. (11/24 = 0.45). So for an unmarried person, you can exclude up to $250,000. Multiply that by .45 and you get $112,500. If your profit after everything is taken out is only $35,000 then you can exclude that from capital gains because it is less than $112,500.  All that being said, you will need documentation in case you get audited. For more information, see IRS Publication 551, Basis of Assets, and look for the section on real property. See also this IRS Tax Topic on Sale of Your Home" I'm not sure where you are, but in the United States capital gains are taxed at a lower rate than other types of income. On the 1040, captial gains income is separated from earned income, and income tax is calculated just on earned income. Then capital gains tax is calculated on capital gains income, and then added to income tax afterward. The question seems to be from the point of view actual sales and not its impact on one's taxation. In case you just want to sell, why brokers will respond differently each times. Either there may be issues with ownership and/or the company whose shares it is? In case you feel that the issues lies with brok The buyer of such an account is likely treating it as an asset, and if they ever resell it capital gains (or loss) would be realized. I don't see why this would be any different for the person that created the account initially, except that the basis starts at $0 making the entire sale price taxable. How you figure the value of the account before the initial sale would be more difficult, but fortunately you may not ever need to know the value (for tax purposes) until you actually sell it.