Inherited collection of knives - laws/taxes on sale?

E

Euxton

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Oct 15, 2018
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Hey. I recently inherited a decent size collection of some amazingly shiny pointed objects from my father who passed away recently, and I really have no idea what to do with them. While they are super cool looking, I could never trust myself with that many knives so will be cutting down his collection and keeping his favourite & the coolest looking one. I was wondering though, what kind of laws are there around selling knives, and will I be paying any tax on selling them? Had a look around and noticed I'm now in the 40% tax band, so if I was to pay tax on it almost half of it would be gone immediately - is this so? Not actually sure how it'll all work out with it being inheritance.

Thanks in advance for any advice :)
 
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Where do you live? EU, Texas, Korea, ....?

At 40%, I assume you are not talking about VAT and are a high tax bracket US citizen. What sort of knives are we talking about and what are the approximate values? Selling a Spyderco is much different than selling a Master Smith Bowie.

Where I live, modest inheritances are passed on tax-free. Capital gains may still apply in some cases.
 
I’m in the same boat except my dear father is still clinging to life. Get yourself a gold membership and sell the knives here. That’s what I plan to do. Talk to a CPA about the tax implications if you’re concerned, but I won’t be worrying, myself. It’s not that much money, and you’re just liquidating a gift from your father.
 
wow. your old man already paid taxes on his income used to buy them.and then a vat I assume when he bought them. now if sold another tax of 40%. got to love govt........

I'm no tax accountant so I cant give good advice, plus sounds like your in the uk maybe, so I know even less how it works over there.
 
In the US, I don't believe you have to worry about taxes on the sales since you aren't in the knife business. Have no idea about the UK or Europe in general. But I would probably sell them here or at least whittle down the collection to a manageable size. Bruce Voyles has regular knife auctions and he has a good eye for value and so forth. He has an auction that is ending on Thursday right now and a knife show scheduled for later in the year in Pigeon Forge TN. He is in Chattanooga TN (USA).

If you really put a fine point to this in terms of liquidating a sizable collection after the death of the owner, estate taxes could apply. I don't believe I have ever heard of knives being an issue as part of an estate. Big gun collections could in my opinion. This is a question I'd ask of the estate attorney if I really cared.
 
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You are really stretching to get UK tax advice(presuming that is where you are) from a bunch of knife guys predominately in the US. I don't know what your interpretation of large collection is and what it might contain, but if you get a Gold or higher membership you can post photos, ask values and sell on the exchange.
If you want knife info. a knife forum is a good place to go. If you want tax info go to an accountant.
 
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If you are in the UK you might need to be more concerned about the weapons laws than the taxes. You generally pay fines for tax mistakes but can do time for weapons.
 
Selling stuff is usually a pain in the butt from my point of view. Basically, you need to have some idea of what something is worth and list it as such. I lean more toward the dumpster approach unless a knife is really valuable. On Ebay or similar auction sites, assuming the right people see the listing, prices could go quite high relative to the original purchase price if something is old or very desirable. Bill Moran knives are ones that can fetch very high prices for example. Last I heard they sell for about $1,000 US per inch of blade length.
 
Taxes are an extremely localized thing. You may need to get qualified professional advice from somebody “in the know” in the country-state-province-whatever where you live. A global forum of knife hobbyists and aficionados (almost none of whom will be experienced tax professionals) is not an appropriate place to seek such advice.

That being said... If the collection is just a couple/few dozen "run of the mill" knives, it probably won’t be anything you need to report and pay taxes on. If however you’re sitting on top of a giant pile of breathtakingly valuable knives that are worth a fortune, your situation will be totally different.

My suggestions: 1--Do a lot of homework and rough out the total value of what you’ve inherited. 2--If warranted by the value of what you’ve inherited, get some qualified professional tax advice. 3--If it’s not warranted by the value of what you’ve inherited then skip the advice, sell whatever knives you don’t want to keep (preferably without leaving a paper trail) and do whatever you want with the proceeds. 4--Above all else, be sure to keep a few mementos for yourself and your family.

My condolences on your loss and best of luck with doing whatever you end up doing with whatever you’ve inherited.
 
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I tend to agree with speaking to a professional. Just because some members don't report their hobby collection sales for income tax filings doesn't make it legal, even if they think it is.

Your locale might allow small amounts to go unreported. Either way, it's probably a good idea to research the realistic value of the items, or even speak to a family member that might know the history behind them. It would be a shame to sell an inexpensive knife that turned out to be a gift from someone important, or have a significant family historical event linked to it.
 
If you sell and receive funds via Paypal goods & services (suggested if you deal here on BF) if you have over $20k in sales AND over 200 transactions you and IRS will receive a 1099 showing it as income. At least 2 states in the northeast US set the limit at just $600 in income via Paypal before you get a 1099
 
Interesting about PayPal and the 1099. I don't have a receive money account with them, but I have certainly considered it from time to time. $600 is the feds break point on reporting income.

Good luck OP with your efforts.
 
Heirphoto said:
If you sell and receive funds via Paypal goods & services (suggested if you deal here on BF) if you have over $20k in sales AND over 200 transactions you and IRS will receive a 1099 showing it as income. At least 2 states in the northeast US set the limit at just $600 in income via Paypal before you get a 1099
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We could really make that an issue around here. I could see a wealthy & obsessive knife collector doing 200 "catch & release" sales in a year. They wouldn't have actually made any money, because they'd basically just be returning things they bought, but the IRS would disagree.
 
Grease said:
We could really make that an issue around here. I could see a wealthy & obsessive knife collector doing 200 "catch & release" sales in a year. They wouldn't have actually made any money, because they'd basically just be returning things they bought, but the IRS would disagree.
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And IRS would not care what the 200 transactions were...50 knife sales here, 25 car parts on ebay, 50 old albums on Etsy, once you hit 200 (and $20k) you are "in business". Oh, don't forget to file self employment tax (Social Security) ans state sales tax too.
 
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