Auction Power Guide

There is a great many infomercials punting the idea of investing in tax foreclosed homes in order to make big profits. While these infomercials are true, many of them are a little misleading because basically they really want to sell you a product. It is possible to educate yourself regarding the processes involved in investing in tax foreclosed homes, just by reading the right kinds of books and collecting information from the internet.

It is certainly best to arm yourself with some education and research on this subject matter before entering the real estate investment market. And the purchase tax foreclosed homes does allow for some good profits to be made.

It is a sad fact of life that in today’s credit crunch, many homeowners are feeling the pinch. The Internal Revenue Service has the right to foreclose on a persons property if they have unpaid income taxes. This in not a quick process, but if the home owner is also in default with his mortgage the process speeds up somewhat. However it is important to know that a Tax lien is superior to any other lien over a mortgage. So even in the lender forecloses on the mortgage owner first the tax lien will still have to be paid. Lenders who purchase foreclosure homes on auction always pay the tax liens, as if they did not the property would become the property of the IRS.

If you are an informed investor, it is also possible for you to buy tax foreclosed homes on auction. There are greater rewards in this method of purchase, but also greater risks, particularly if you have not done your homework.

The beauty of investing in tax foreclosed homes is that you are allowed to inspect the property prior to bidding. This is not the case with bank foreclosures as generally the homeowner is still resident.

There are a number of reasons for properties being sold at foreclosure auctions these include:

• Failure to meet the demands of mortgage repayments
• Failure to make real estate property tax payments
• Failure to make Income tax payments
• Personal bankruptcy
• Illegal activity by the owner

Tax foreclosed homes are either sold at a public auction or at a court auction, sometimes also referred to as a Sheriffs sale. In court auctions investors are not able to request discounts for early payment, pay in installments, modify the terms of the contract or transfer the title. This does make thing a little more sticky, but that is the way it goes. Some auction allow verbal bidding while others only accept bids as sealed written offers, so make sure you know what is required of you.

In “non judicial” states the foreclosure process proceeds much faster, generally around three months. In judicial states this process can take as long as eighteen to twenty-four months. For example, judicial states include:

• Indiana
• Connecticut
• Louisiana
• Florida
• Maine
• New York
• New Jersey
• North Dakota
• Pennsylvania
• Ohio
• South Carolina

Kevin Simpson

I have no experience with the IRS or running a business, but I have a theoretical question. Let’s say that someone runs ebay sales and does 500 auctions a week. The items are bought either individually or as large lots and broken down into individual items. As you can see this would be an outrageous paperwork nightmare for 1 person running a business. So could you just add up the grand total sales for the year and subtract all expenses or would you literally have to do the other way

You do total sales and then total expenses on a schedule c for the year.

I have recently started selling some stuff on ebay. I have earned around 150-200 dollars. Do I need to report my earnings to IRS or is there any umbrella limit within which its alright not to report?

I made over $2000 on eBay in 2008 selling stuff for my boss and never claimed it.

Web based auctions and retailing is major home business and growing just about every year. eBay is the quantity 1 web-site for people to sell items and merchandise on the online. If you are thinking about selling on eBay, 1 question that you could possibly have is if you are necessary to pay income tax on your sales This post should certainly answer your concerns.

If you auction a couple of private items on eBay just about every now and then that represent merchandise that would otherwise be sold at a garage sale, you have no tax liability and no added filing requirement. Standard items that might possibly have been up in the attic or not made use of in a when probably are worth much less than what you paid for them so there is no taxable acquire. The loss on these items is also not deductible.

The rule is numerous if you sell an item that has appreciated due to the fact it came into your possession. Selling art or antiques that have gone up in value drastically due to the fact acquisition and sold for a profit have to be reported. They will be reported either as a capital acquire on Schedule D or on Schedule C if you are engaged in an web based home business. A smaller acquire on a novelty item is a further matter. For example, if you purchased a GI Joe for $ten and sell it for $100, you have a prospective capital acquire that could be reported. IRS is not probably to be concerned more than a thing smaller like a $90 acquire on a GI Joe. If you have 1 or two such sales like that a year, it is not going to be an concern even if in theory it is a taxable acquire. But an individual selling GI Joe action figures on a common basis as portion of a profit searching for venture would have a prospective IRS situation if they did not incorporate the income on Schedule C of their return. Any legitimate home business expenditures could be deducted from the profit on goods sold of an web based auction home business.

At this point a distinction have to be created among an web based home business and a hobby. A individual who buys items for resale and is attempting to make a profit in web based auctions might possibly have a legitimate home business. In spite of this, if an individual files a Schedule C with their return for an web based home business and reports a loss year just after year, IRS might possibly disallow the losses and declare that activity a hobby. The components that play into this distinction are outlined in IRS Publication 535 (Home business Expenditures). In a nutshell, common web based selling might possibly be a hobby if there is no clear profit motive. If your web based sales are a hobby, the expenditures can not exceed the income from sales for tax loss purposes. While an itemized deduction on Schedule A could possibly be taken by some aggressive people, I would not advise it. An IRS audit is no enjoyable.

A further factor to look into is no matter if or not items you sell had been depreciated for tax purposes in a prior year on your tax return. The sale of workplace equipment or vehicles that had been made use of in home business and had been topic to prior depreciation might possibly result in a necessary recapture of depreciation, capital gains or ordinary income. See a CPA, Enrolled Agent, or Accredited Tax Advisor for support with preparation of your federal income tax should certainly you have concerns about the taxation of web based auctions.