Comments on VGPC.com Blog: The IRS Cares About Your Video Game Collection

According to the IRS "all capital gains are taxabl...

2008-04-12T08:01:00.000-06:00

According to the IRS "all capital gains are taxable and must be reported on your tax return". It does not matter the size or who you are.

While doing more research for this I did find another HUGE difference between investors and collectors though. Investors can deduct losses, while collectors cannot.

I am going to add an update to the article with more info on this. Thanks for the discussion racketboy.

I think you only have to report income if it's ove...

2008-04-12T06:39:00.000-06:00

I think you only have to report income if it's over a certain amount.
(a few hundred, I think?)

racketboy - That is true you do have to report the...

2008-04-11T22:55:00.000-06:00

racketboy - That is true you do have to report the income as well, but I didn't include that because you have to report the income if you do it for personal pleasure as well.

The IRS always requires you to report income, but they do not always allow you to deduct expenses. I'm sure most people do not report it to the IRS if the game they find at the flea market for $5 bucks sells for $30, but both collectors and investors have to report that $25 income. Investors can deduct the gas to drive to the flea market though.

One thing you forget to mention is that you better...

2008-04-11T18:55:00.000-06:00

One thing you forget to mention is that you better make sure to report any profits to the IRS from the games when you sell them.

They won't be too happy if you deduct the costs and then don't report the income.

tanookitravis - That is pretty sweet that you were...

2008-04-11T15:17:00.000-06:00

tanookitravis - That is pretty sweet that you were making money selling RE4 memory cards.

mndrix - We are actually working to create a feature like you described. You will be able to create an account on our site, enter all the games in your collection, and we will tell you how much your collection is worth and provide a chart of its value over time. I'm pretty excited for it.

Awesome article. So when is VGPC.com going to hel...

2008-04-11T14:49:00.000-06:00

Awesome article. So when is VGPC.com going to help me track my game collection and price it for me at the same time? That would be a cool feature.

This is really interesting. I don't think I can co...

2008-04-11T13:56:00.000-06:00

This is really interesting. I don't think I can consider myself an investor because I do it entirely for fun and open every new game I ever buy.

I did manage to make money playing games though when RE4 came out for the Cube I managed to sell gray memory cards (worth $2) for close to $30 because they had everything unlocked in the game. I sold more than enough to make up for the price of the game, and then some. So maybe I am an investor.