Buying off CL and the buyer wants cash

[Steppenwolfe]

Sold my Kubota B2320 last year on Craig's list for 13k, all cash. The guy brought 3k for a down payment, and a week later brought the 10k when he picked up the tractor. I gave him receipts for both and a bill of sale. Easy peasy...

 

[Industrial Toys]

Just curious, did you deposit the money? Everyone seems to be on the lookout for money laundering and other suspicious funding. When I got Audited, they grilled me on how much CASH I had on hand. EXACT amounts, not vague guesses. That interests them much.

 

[dfkrug]

Do states with a sales tax apply it to private sales? Seems like it would be all but impossible to enforce.

Yeah, they call it "use" tax. The state's income tax return (if they have one) often has a place where you volunteer all your purchases that were not taxed. Like when you buy from out of state sellers. Or when someone sells you something at a yard sale. Almost impossible to enforce. That is why states try to collect thru the seller, as when they have a business. I once had a sales tax acct with the state, where I filed quarterly.

If you are buying something FOR a business, then you can not expense the item, as say, capital equipment, without a paper trail that shows you paid sales or use tax. Then there are re-seller's permits... Blah, blah, blah.

Note that there are 1000s of sales tax jurisdictions around the US, as it can be different across diff counties and even cities.

 

[two_bit_score]

It's not called sales tax. It's capital gains tax. You buy something for $1000 and sell it for $2000, you have a capitol gain of $1000 and you owe capital gains taxes on that. And yes, it's hard to enforce.

Cars are a different animal.
Read here...
Tax Laws for Purchasing a Car in Indiana | It Still Runs

That only applies when you have a state income tax. We don't in Texas.

 

[Jstpssng]

That only applies when you have a state income tax. We don't in Texas.

In Moss' example though you still are supposed to declare it on your federal tax. Heck, you're supposed to pay income tax on the value when you trade your time for somebody else's hard goods, aka "bartering."

In 4570Man's example yesterday;

So if reporting the minimum you can get by with is stealing and dishonest what does that make collecting one of the many government benefits?

that really is a deep question.
While I do pay all that I am supposed to, I also do my best to keep those payments to a minimum: I put as much as possible into my tax deferred 401K, and can usually "lose" enough money on any side job to avoid an income; i.e., I will make between $4000 and $5000 this year cutting wood off my woodlot and most of that will go to fuel, repairs, and the residual cost of my new winch.

It always seems ironic to me when people who are always talking about other people holding their hand out will turn around and get "incentives" such as the $5000 credit that the Obama once offered to first time home buyers, or some of the other programs which are offered. I could get money for the work that I do on my woodlot, but don't believe in it. OTOH I have paid into SS for over 40 years with the expectation that I will get something in return; and get a little rankled when people call it an "entitlement." If it hadn't been raided back in the Reagan years and not paid back, the program would work as it was originally intended.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Cash talks.

When I was a kid the "pen hooker" would pull up in his truck and pull out a wad of cash to my cash starved dad and it would work. For a FFA project I build a heavy 12' loading chute and so the next time the "pen hooker" pulled out the cash again I told dad let us risk the auction. The auction barn after fees check was $1200 more than the cash offered by the "pen hooker" and Dad never dealt with another "pin hooker".

To make the tax a non issue I try to buy below what the seller had in the item. That is my duty.

 

[Maxify]

Retired State Law Enforcement here. Seen and read enough to last a couple of lifetimes.
These days there are lots of ways to transfer money. Just ask your kids/grandkids. PayPal, Venmo,ApplePay are all sorts of ways to transfer funds electronically with an electronic paper trail. Leave your cash at home. Nobody needs to die over cash. The funds are guaranteed to be in your acct. upon your electronic receipt.
There are many things in this life worth dying for....Money is NOT on that list!

 

[dfkrug]

These days there are lots of ways to transfer money. Just ask your kids/grandkids.

Claude, the OP, wants to buy something for over $10K, and none of those methods will work here. Cash.

 

[Steppenwolfe]

Just curious, did you deposit the money? Everyone seems to be on the lookout for money laundering and other suspicious funding. When I got Audited, they grilled me on how much CASH I had on hand. EXACT amounts, not vague guesses. That interests them much.

Nope... went into the gun safe... I guess I need to ask wifey if it's still there. :shocked:

 

[Industrial Toys]

Might be sportin a new pair of monoloblonics (sp?).