topic How do I pay taxes on a eBay business? in Personal Finance

How do I pay taxes on a eBay business?

JoshNurse — Thu, 28 May 2015 23:36:39 GMT

In January 1 I started selling some services on eBay. At this rate I will be at about $100,000 in sales at the end of the year.

How do I pay the least amount of taxes? I have recipts to show ho wmuch I also have to pay to run this small business.

Let me know please. I am located in Texas.

Re: How do I pay taxes on a eBay business?

stellar — Fri, 29 May 2015 00:00:21 GMT

I would call a tax accountant/preparer. I believe if you are self employed you pay estimated taxes quarterly.

Re: How do I pay taxes on a eBay business?

JoshNurse — Fri, 29 May 2015 00:24:46 GMT

If I pay less by running as a business I prefer to do it that way. My brother and I are both running the business so profit is 50/50.

Re: How do I pay taxes on a eBay business?

pipeguy — Fri, 29 May 2015 10:05:52 GMT

Basically you file a schedule C with your tax return and deduct auto expenses, up to 25% of your house as "office space that is 100% dedicated to the business" within your house, shipping, ebay fees, credit card /Paypal fees, cost of goods, etc. As a self employeed, you have to pay both sides of FICA (7.65 percent X 2). You need to do an estimated return every quarter and make payments to the IRS for FICA and estimated withholding. Double check local/state business licensing and sales tax permits.

There are a ton of things you can write off being in business for yourself, but you need to keep detailed complete records, expect a greater chance of being audited and know that most of your so called profit will go to fees, taxes, etc. Golden rule is that for every $100 you have in the bank from making a sale, you'll be lucky if $10 of that is actually yours assuming you are selling items for double what you paid and have a good average sale. What I mean by cost/sale size is it doesn't matter if you pay $1 for a widge and sell it for $10 - you still have shipping, packaging, insurance, commission, etc that you have to pay.

I would strongly suggest that you study up on running a small business, especially the tax/licensing/obligations, more so that on MyFico - once you turn your eBay "hobby" into a real eBay "business" lots of things change, especially with how many entities will be reaching out for "their share" of your sweat.

Good luck !

Note, I ran small businesses for almost 40 years, 18 of those as owner-operator and the IRS came after me with a 10 year back audit 3 years after I shut the door and closed the business - results were ugly but even the greatly reduced settlement was painful and I filed honest returns.

Re: How do I pay taxes on a eBay business?

JoshNurse — Fri, 29 May 2015 03:36:19 GMT

@pipeguy wrote:
Basically you file a schedule C with your tax return and deduct auto expenses, up to 25% of your house as "office space that is 100% dedicated to the business" within your house, shipping, ebay fees, credit card /Paypal fees, cost of goods, etc. As a self employeed, you have to pay both sides of FICA (7.65 percent X 2). You need to do an estimated return every quarter and make payments to the IRS for FICA and estimated withholding. Double check local/state business licensing and sales tax permits.

There are a ton of things you can write off being in business for yourself, but you need to keep detailed complete records, expect a greater chance of being audited and know that most of your so called profit will go to fees, taxes, etc. Golden rule is that for every $100 you have in the bank from making a sale, you'll be lucky if $10 of that is actually yours assuming you are selling items for double what you paid and have a good average sale. What I mean by cost/sale size is it doesn't matter if you pay $1 for a widge and sell it for $10 - you still have shipping, packaging, insurance, commission, etc that you have to pay.

I would strong sugget that you study up on running a small business, especially the tax/licensing/obligations, more so that on MyFico - once you turn your eBay "hobby" into a real eBay "business" lots of things change, especially with how many entities will be reaching out for "their share" of your sweat.

Good luck !

Note, I ran small businesses for almost 40 years, 18 of those as owner-operator and the IRS came after me with a 10 year back audit 3 years after I shut the door and closed the business - results were ugly but even the greatly reduced settlement was painful and I filed honest returns.

Would i save with taxes by opening a company or business with my brother and I as the owners? We are doing 50/50 profit.

Re: How do I pay taxes on a eBay business?

pipeguy — Fri, 29 May 2015 10:18:20 GMT

@JoshNurse wrote:

Would i save with taxes by opening a company or business with my brother and I as the owners? We are doing 50/50 profit.

dba, Sole P, LLC, Sub-Chapter S, Inc are all treated "slightly" different in various ways, but as far as a small ebay seller/business you are going to be a sole proprietorship d/b/a to start. The amount of taxes you pay will be not really a factor for your start up, later perhaps and if it becomes an issue you can go to a S-Corp or whatever. One thing to remember especially with small eBay sellers is that eBay & PayPal will take 20% +/- of every sale right off the top.

Again, talk to an attorney and tax pro if you are looking to establish a full time business-partnership, but just understand that if you expect to be in business for a long time, there is a lot more to it than splitting 50/50 "profits" that don't exist yet.

Start small step by step, see where it goes and then worry about how to use the tax code to/in your favor (not that you should ignore it now, it's just not your primary concern at this point).