"Secret skimping is out, like false bosoms." - Marjorie Hillis, Orchids on Your Budget, 1937.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Taxes

We filed our taxes this past weekend, and we're expecting a huge refund.  A five-digit refund.  Yeah, a certain someone needed to adjust his withholding last year.

I'll be shaving off about $2k (my usual refund amount) to bring my E-fund up to $10k, a number it hasn't seen in about 4 years.  He'll take a portion for his savings/loans, and the rest will go into our joint account for moving expenses, and a little vacation.

I'm glad I'll finally be hitting my E-fund goal so that I can concentrate on other areas now.  I'm still working on my goals for this year, but I'm thinking I'm at a pivotal point right now in my work-life, and I need to shit or get off the pot, as it were, with regard to further education.  Depending on the direction I go, I'll need anywhere from about $10k to $34k.  Oy.

Speaking of oy, I was a bit confused about reporting my ebay sales.  While I took in about $1k this year on ebay, I took a loss on nearly everything I sold, except for a few things I purchased cheaply off ebay and resold.  Remember with me for a moment all the clothes and jewelry I purchased over the past few years, and how that affected my bottom-line, and you'll see why $1k should not be considered income.  Even though it's clear to me that I didn't make a profit,  I'd be hard-pressed to produce receipts for everything on both ends.

I know I'm not the first one in the PF community to use ebay to recoup some losses.  Can anyone share their tax-reporting strategy?

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