In the irs eyes Income is certainly defined isn’t it ? And that’s all that counts. Since this is an irs issue .

You see it in the 1040 instructions every year.


“”””” What types of income must you pay taxes on?

The IRS counts the following common income sources as taxable income:

Wages, salaries, tips and other taxable employee pay
Union strike benefits
Long-term disability benefits received prior to minimum retirement age
Net self-employment or freelance earnings under certain circumstances
Jury duty fees you earned
Security deposits and rental property income
Awards, prizes, gambling, lottery and contest winnings
Back pay from labor discrimination lawsuits
Unemployment benefits
Capital gains (there’s an exception for the selling of a property that’s your primary residence)
Severance pay from a previous job
Alimony from an ex-spouse
Interest or dividends from investments
Royalties and license payments
Canceled debts (but there are key exceptions for those declaring bankruptcy)
What types of income are not taxed?

You don’t have to pay taxes on all income, though. This category generally includes …

Workers’ compensation benefits
Child support payments
Life insurance proceeds unless the policy was turned over to you for a price
Disability benefits (if you contributed to the premiums from your salary)
Social Security benefits (depending on your filing status and other income)
Capital gains on the sale of your primary home (up to certain thresholds)
Money received as a gift or other inherited assets (the exception here is, if you’ve earned money as a result of that gift, you owe taxes on those earnings)
Canceled debts intended as a gift to you
Scholarships or fellowship grants
Foster care payments
Federal income tax refund
Money rolled over from one retirement account to another via trustee-to-trustee transfer
For full instructions on what constitutes taxable and non-taxable income, see IRS Publication 525.


“”””
And this is an irs rule under discussion . Also there is no irs rule that a “ business “ must make a profit .

Proceeds from any sale is income Denny, that income may be offset by expenses, such as inventory costs, but without proof to the IRS as to the cost of inventory, well then the full value of a sale is reported as income.

Denny, what you are posting is your opinion as well, it is your opinion as to how you think that the IRS will apply the new reporting data it receives. So I ask you Denny, in the example below that comes directly from PayPal where you sell a couch for $$800 that you had purchased for $1200 so you will pay no taxes, what happens if you sell a lens for $2000 that you paid $2800 for but have no receipts to back that up, or what happens in the case of expensive items that you have owned for several years that you have no way to prove a cost basis in?

You don't know, you are very condescending and arrogant in my opinion as you accuse me of only expressing opinions while you are expressing "facts" although your facts are not directly salient to the issue at hand.

This from PayPal,

"1099-K Threshold Change:
This new Threshold Change is currently only for payments received for goods and services transactions, so this doesn’t include things like paying your family or friends back using PayPal or Venmo for dinner, gifts, shared trips, etc.

This change was introduced in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which amended some sections of the Internal Revenue Code to require Third-Party Settlement Organizations (TPSOs), like PayPal and Venmo, to report goods and services transactions made by customers with $600 or more in annual gross sales on 1099-K forms. Currently, a 1099-K is only required when a user receives more than $20,000 in goods and services transactions and more than 200 goods and services transactions in a calendar year.

.......

Form 1099-K is an IRS informational tax form that is used to report goods and services payments received by a business or individual in the calendar year. While banks and payment service providers, like PayPal and Venmo are required by the IRS to send customers a Form-1099K if they meet the $600 threshold amount, there are certain amounts that may be included on the form that are generally excluded from gross income and therefore are not subject to income tax. This includes:

Amounts from selling personal items at a loss
Amounts sent as reimbursement
Amounts sent as a gift

So, for example, if you purchased a couch for $1200 and sold it for $800, this amount would not be subject to income tax.