<p>I have a few college textbooks that I purchased, new and used. I was thinking of selling some of them to companies that buy textbooks back or selling them to other college students. I would not make a profit on them.</p>
<p>Some textbooks would be bought and sold in the same tax year, others in different tax years (purchased one tax year and sold the next tax year).</p>
<p>The purchase cost of the books has been reported as qualified expenses as part of the American Opportunity Credit on my income taxes. How would I handle this on my income tax return? Thanks so much!</p>
<p>This is like selling any other personal item. Look up the tax advice for income from yard sales, and use that as a basis. Textbooks aren’t in a special category for this.</p>
<p>If you’re selling them for the same or less than you paid for them, then they aren’t income.</p>
<p>It’s like selling a used car. You buy it for X when its new, but you sell it for less than X a few years later. No profit, no taxes.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for your replies. </p>
<p>The IRS Publication 525, Taxable and Non-Taxable Income, quotes “Sale of personal items. If you sold an item you owned for personal use, such as a car, refrigerator, furniture, stereo, jewelry, or silverware, your gain is taxable as a capital gain.” Capital gain meaning selling an asset for more than you paid for it, you will realize a capital gain.</p>
<p>Since selling used textbooks is usually not a capital gain, then no tax would be owed.</p>
<p>But since textbooks are usually included in the American Opportunity Credit (or whatever tax credit being used on income taxes), I have heard that the sale of any textbooks (previously claimed for tax credit) would be considered income.</p>
<p>Or, possibly that you deduct the amount you received from the sale of textbooks
from the amount you are applying to the cost of textbooks in the same tax year.</p>
<p>Has anyone heard anythings about this or where to find out? Thanks.</p>
<p>That would be a question to ask the IRS folks themselves.</p>
<p>But to be perfectly honest, I don’t think you want to. If they would decide these sales are taxable then they’d have to add several lines to some form or other, and we’d have one more thing to fret over next year.</p>