Taxation On Cherrypicking?

I would believe that for sure. The tax code its self I'm sure has numerous contradictions. Theres SOOOOOO many different tax laws its insane. I dont believe for a second every single part was considered for its impact on the whole, rather its just a bunch of individual laws put together into one book that may or may not contradict each other.

It seems a lot like youre basically trying to avoid the big laws and hope everything else is good enough not to get attention. Id go so far to say even IRS agents dont know the whole code

Going back to the original question the answer is simple: all sources of income must be reported unless it is specifically exempted. Even a drug dealer has to pay taxes on their income per the law. Now, where this becomes interesting is defining the source of income. As a cherrypicker, if this is a routine source of income and a "trade" that you commonly engage in for profit, it may be classified as business or personal income and than taxed at your income bracket. If it fails to meet that test it would likely be classified as a collectibles capital gain which is taxed at an obscenely high rate. This type of issue has been one of contention between taxpayers and the IRS and I know one professional who brought the IRS to court over a related issue and a jewelry manufacturer. Of course, keep in mind that income is typically reported for an individual on a cash basis, that is no income is recognized until the coin is sold.

"Even a drug dealer has to pay taxes on their income per the law"

And this is the beauty of the FairTax, they will every time they spend one of their ill gotten dollars.

Rick

Thats how I would define it too. Finding things especially varieties that are missed or under valued. Finding a FBL franklin being sold as a regular one, type 2 ike being sold as a type 1 ect.

Shoot that counts too. Presumably you'd be getting those undervalued in a lot picking out gems that may be hidden in there or searching bank rolls, something along those lines.

Ask your tax preparer, plain and simple. If you buy and sell coins your tax man should know. What we think or anyone here advises on CCF do not pay any mind.

1893S...that is not true. magicalmke gave a good and accurate summary. In many other cases though, you are correct.

Erns...no need for a tax guy on this one. Net sales proceeds less cost and selling expense is taxable. Why? Because that is the tax code law. Whether you choose to declare the income is another issue, but legally, you must. The applicable tax rate will depend upon your individual circumstances, including as magicalmke mentioned, whether this is a business or hobby.

And west, really, I would have to recommend against admitting to tax fraud on a public forum. That noise you heard is your CPA slapping his forehead after reading this.

I'm all for redoing the current tax code.

That said our current leaders would take the existing code and add in so much fluff and filler the original document would swell to 4 times the current one and be even more complicated. Heck they can't even make a simple task such as securing the border and defining immigration/immigrants without creating mammoth documents. They write healthcare laws with so much tax law in them even the courts declare they are nothing but new tax laws - with thousands of pages - and the issue they wanted to address was getting insurance to the uninsured and then they left millions of them out of that vision... Too many people want to sit in on the conversations at the big table in Washington for anything to ever be about what is right for Americans anymore.

Oh an too the original question... if you made money you probably should pay a tax to someone...that is the way it works around here...