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Reporting profits on sale of coins

Sales of Pre-1933 U.S. rare coins are non-reportable. However, the sale of modern bullion in amounts exceeding 25 ounces requires dealers to file a 1099-B with the I.R.S. reporting your profits at the time of the sale.

This is from this website.

According to the article, profits on coins older than 1933 are unreportable to the IRS.

Can a CPA here confirm this?

Ray

Comments

  • DennisHDennisH Posts: 14,011 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Sounds highly unlikely to me.
    When in doubt, don't.
  • FrankcoinsFrankcoins Posts: 4,571 ✭✭✭
    Reportable Transactions

    Gold bars: any combination 32.15 ounces or more
    South African Krugerrands: 25 ounces or more
    Canadian Maple Leafs: 25 ounces or more
    Mexican Onzas: 25 ounces or more
    Silver bars: 1,000 ounces or more
    Pre-1965 US 90-percent silver coins: 1000 dollar face value or more
    Platinum bars: 25 ounces or more

    The reports are for the gross amounts when you SELL to a dealer, the IRS has no idea what your "profit" is.

    There are no reports when you BUY these items.
    Frank Provasek - PCGS Authorized Dealer, Life Member ANA, Member TNA. www.frankcoins.com
  • UtahCoinUtahCoin Posts: 5,366 ✭✭✭✭✭
    What profit????

    Brings up an interesting point...
    When is it that eBay will start reporting your sales to the IRS?
    I used to be somebody, now I'm just a coin collector.
    Recipient of the coveted "You Suck" award, April 2009 for cherrypicking a 1833 CBHD LM-5, and April 2022 for a 1835 LM-12, and again in Aug 2012 for picking off a 1952 FS-902.
  • I sold a little over $2000 face value junk silver about 5 years or so ago to Liberty Coins in Lansing Mich.
    I got a 1099-B come tax time.
    It appears though, that a person selling a collection of say, Bust Half Dollars to a dealer, would not get a 1099-B from the dealer, if the FACE value were less than $1000.
    Right?

    Ray
  • FrankcoinsFrankcoins Posts: 4,571 ✭✭✭


    << <i>I sold a little over $2000 face value junk silver about 5 years or so ago to Liberty Coins in Lansing Mich.
    I got a 1099-B come tax time.
    It appears though, that a person selling a collection of say, Bust Half Dollars to a dealer, would not get a 1099-B from the dealer, if the FACE value were less than $1000.
    Right?

    Ray >>



    Let's just say a lot of $999.90 bags of 90% silver coins are sold.
    Frank Provasek - PCGS Authorized Dealer, Life Member ANA, Member TNA. www.frankcoins.com
  • Profit....image

    What profit...image

    image
  • PerryHallPerryHall Posts: 46,848 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>Profit....image

    What profit...image

    image >>



    If you sell for cash, is there really ever any profit?






    Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
    "Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
    "Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire

  • truthtellertruthteller Posts: 1,240 ✭✭


    << <i>Sales of Pre-1933 U.S. rare coins are non-reportable. However, the sale of modern bullion in amounts exceeding 25 ounces requires dealers to file a 1099-B with the I.R.S. reporting your profits at the time of the sale.

    This is from this website.

    According to the article, profits on coins older than 1933 are unreportable to the IRS.

    Can a CPA here confirm this?

    Ray >>




    There are two classifications of reporting. One classification is mandatory by federal guidelines on bullion related items by the buyer as a 1099, and the other classification is obligatory by the seller if a PROFIT is made on the sale. PROFITS on any numismatic transaction are obligated to be reported by the seller to the IRS on your federal tax return either as a Schedule C or Schedule D filing.


    In addition, as classified under the Patriot Act, certain cash, cash related or cash equivalent(bullion) transactions are reported by the buyer as a 8033 filing for cumulative or agregrate amounts over $10k in any calender year.



    TRUTH
  • The OP question was reporting profits on coins . There are to many variables depending on whether
    one is a dealer , hobby collector , investor , state pension fund , etc . Bullion and collector coins have
    different rules . A coin dealer uses different IRS forms than a collector , who may have the same profit
    and reports capital gains onschedule D , as opposed to a dealer ,who fills out a schedule C .
    Then there are state 1040's ,and sales tax , and etc ,and well ,you get the picture .

    To answer Utah Coin , Ebay may or may not have to report sales to the IRS . There will most likely
    be an assesed flat fee on sellers , which will somehow be distributed to taxing municipalities .
    In some other post weeks or months ago , someone metioned that sellers may have to be aware
    that paypal has an extensive database . The following paragraph is taken from someone I know , who
    knows someone who knows an accountant , who received an IRS form 4564 , about a client .
    The form is titled 'Information Document Request' Below is the verbiage of one of the requests .

    "'Please provide an excel spreadsheet from Paypal which shows all activities for the entire year .
    The activities should include, but is not limited to payments deposited into the paypal account.
    The names and email addresses of all the customers that paypal received payments from, and
    the transaction number associated with each payment ."

    Besides all that , the Chicago Bears lost a heartbreaker , and my wife breathed a small
    sigh of relief with today's 900 plus point recovery .

    PS 4 weeks to coinfest !
    Home of quality widgets
  • LOL! Taxes!?
  • ziggy29ziggy29 Posts: 18,668 ✭✭✭
    Many collectibles are bought and sold with no IRS reporting requirements. Doesn't mean profits on the sale aren't taxable income.
  • mozinmozin Posts: 8,755 ✭✭✭
    The question has not been answered. What happens when a collector auctions off coins he has held for forty years. Obviously, they will sell today for more than this collector paid for them forty years ago. Does the auction house report these sales to the IRS, and if so, is there a minimum sales amount that requires IRS notification? I always wonder about all the publicity when a big collection is auctioned off.
    I collect Capped Bust series by variety in PCGS AU/MS grades.
  • truthtellertruthteller Posts: 1,240 ✭✭


    << <i>The question has not been answered. What happens when a collector auctions off coins he has held for forty years. Obviously, they will sell today for more than this collector paid for them forty years ago. Does the auction house report these sales to the IRS, and if so, is there a minimum sales amount that requires IRS notification? I always wonder about all the publicity when a big collection is auctioned off. >>



    The answer is no. The auction house will not report a sale from a consigner since the auction house does not own the coins, but acts as an intermediary. However, I do know of a case where a collector turned dealer sold his collection for over a million dollars through auction. Since the sale income was unusually high that year for this person, he was audited by the IRS.



    TRUTH
  • TwoSides2aCoinTwoSides2aCoin Posts: 44,615 ✭✭✭✭✭
    ... if it made even one person laugh it was worth it !
  • ccmorganccmorgan Posts: 1,232 ✭✭✭
    What if you lost $$$ on a sale(s)? Is this a deduction then?
    Love the 1885-CC Morgan
  • DennisHDennisH Posts: 14,011 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>What if you lost $$$ on a sale(s)? Is this a deduction then? >>


    My understanding is the answer is no; it can only be used to offset profits you made on other coins. If the net result from all of your sales for a calendar year was a loss, then you can't claim it as a deduction.
    When in doubt, don't.
  • ElcontadorElcontador Posts: 7,688 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Truthteller nailed it. Re-read his posts. Re losses on coins, they are deductible on your tax returns ONLY if you are buying and selling coins as a business. An individual reports these transactions on a Schedule C. If you are being 'cute' about this, the IRS may disallow everything as a hobby loss, fine you, and all of that other happy stuff.

    Whatever you do, you'd better keep good records. No records means no cost basis on the items you sold.
    "Vou invadir o Nordeste,
    "Seu cabra da peste,
    "Sou Mangueira......."
  • LongacreLongacre Posts: 16,717 ✭✭✭
    Gains and losses on the sales of coins, bullion, etc. need to be reported by the taxpayer. Even if someone does not know anything about taxes, a reasonable person can conclude that the sale of an asset at a price greater than what you paid for it, generates a taxable gain (absent some exception). That should be the baseline assumption.

    99% of Longacre's job involves creating transactions which result in the deferral of income, thereby not generating a current tax liability, but that's on the corporate tax and international tax side, not for individuals.

    BTW-- a little "sweetener" that no one noticed (and no media reported on) as part of the $700 billion bailout, was an extension of a corporate/international tax deferral regime called the "active financing exception". Longacre makes use of this exception to tax on a regular basis and structures transactions to take advantage of it. The mainstream press does not understand it, and it is much easier to report on excessive executive compensation (which people can relate to) than this perk for corporations. The cost to us taxpayers of this corporate benefit is in the tens of billions of dollars.
    Always took candy from strangers
    Didn't wanna get me no trade
    Never want to be like papa
    Working for the boss every night and day
    --"Happy", by the Rolling Stones (1972)
  • TwoSides2aCoinTwoSides2aCoin Posts: 44,615 ✭✭✭✭✭
    "The cost to us taxpayers of this corporate benefit is in the tens of billions of dollars"

    I disagree. Us taxpayers pay only our fair share. The government spends more than they take in. That is not the fault of business. We pay politicians a hefty salary long after they leave the Senate and Congress. Ask any of them ! Why, I'll bet it's in the billions by now !
  • TrimeTrime Posts: 1,863 ✭✭✭
    Longacre:
    "BTW-- a little "sweetener" that no one noticed (and no media reported on) as part of the $700 billion bailout, was an extension of a corporate/international tax deferral regime called the "active financing exception". Text".
    Can you explain?
    Trime
  • "What if you lost $$$ on a sale(s)? Is this a deduction then?"

    That depends on whether you treat the coin collecting as a hobby or as an investment. My view is that if you put enough money into it, it is an investment. If a hobby, then no, the loss on sale is not deductible, although if in the same year you have a loss, you have gains from sale of coins also, then you can offset the loss (or losses) to the extent of the gain. With an investment, if you lose money on the sale of a coin, then you have a capital loss. Here again, you can offset the loss against gains on sales of coins recognized in the same year, or for that matter, gains on sales of stocks, bonds, other collectibles (all considered capital assets.) in that year.If you have a loss from sale of coins treated as investment and no gain to offset them against, then you can use up $3,000 of the loss against other income of the same year and carry forward the remaining unused loss to future years, with no limit until death.

    Julian
  • Oh then when I go bankrupt for bad purchases and loose $$ the government is gonna bail me out?image
  • DoubleEagle59DoubleEagle59 Posts: 8,377 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Not that this will help the discussion, but this is how it works in Canada....

    When a private individual sells a coin it is considered a 'capital gain'.

    The benchmark amount is $1000.00.

    If the coin sells for under $1000 (anywhere between $0.01 to $1000.00) then the 'cost' of the item is assumed to be $1000. Hence, there is no 'profit' and therefore no 'capital gains tax' has to be paid.

    It changes when the item sells for more than $1,000.00.

    Over $1000.00, the cost (if not shown otherwise through a receipt of some sort) is assumed to be only $1000.00 and the profit is the sale price minus $1000 and this amount must be reported as a 'capital gain' and tax must be paid on this.

    ex. let's say I sell a coin for $3000 and I have no receipt (or from a thirty year old collection) then the tax I have to pay is based on the $2000 capital gain amount.

    These tax rules also apply to any other asset I sell, such as art, furniture, etc...
    "Gold is money, and nothing else" (JP Morgan, 1912)

    "“Those who sacrifice liberty for security/safety deserve neither.“(Benjamin Franklin)

    "I only golf on days that end in 'Y'" (DE59)
  • LongacreLongacre Posts: 16,717 ✭✭✭


    << <i>Longacre:
    "BTW-- a little "sweetener" that no one noticed (and no media reported on) as part of the $700 billion bailout, was an extension of a corporate/international tax deferral regime called the "active financing exception". Text".
    Can you explain? >>




    Not to bore the boards, but to the extent a corporation generates passive income (such as interest, dividends, etc.) off-shore, the US taxes that income currently. Now, you ask, why does the US goverment have jurisdiction to tax income generated in a non-US jurisdiction? It is because the Congress created a fictional transaction that occurs whereby this passive income is treated as a deemed dividend to the US, and therefore enters the US taxing jurisdiction (even though no cash moved back to the US; it is still off-shore). The US then has jurisdiction to tax that income. The active financing exception states that if you jump through certain hoops, big corporations are exempt from this tax fiction/deemed dividend, and the interest income, etc. that is generated stays off-shore tax free. Aren't you glad you asked? image
    Always took candy from strangers
    Didn't wanna get me no trade
    Never want to be like papa
    Working for the boss every night and day
    --"Happy", by the Rolling Stones (1972)
  • Longacre,
    I commend you on your knowledge, but I don't think anyone (a) got it or (b) was interested in offshore taxation.
    By the way, when do you ever have time to work?

    Julian
  • adamlaneusadamlaneus Posts: 6,969 ✭✭✭
    I understand it and now I am curious about those hoops.

    The best thing I can do to our Internal Revenue System is to snow them under with paperwork of their own creation.

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