Can I tax deduct my stock?

[jaydisc]

Can I tax deduct my collection stock?

I am a sole trader and run a legitimate software development business.

I have also started investing in collectibles as a business venture / investment. To prove this, I can provide receipts for all the stock that I have acquired to date. I also have some very slight income from the sale of a few collection pieces which unfortunately, since I did not wait for maturity, have been sold at cost or a loss. This has been for the sake of networking and establishing relationships in the industry. So, overall, this new business venture has resulted in a loss of about $5,000 this financial year.

Note that the inventory that I am building now will not mature and reap benefits for around 10 or 20 years, and I expect to operate at a loss until then.

Is this feasible?

Obviously, I'm not expecting accountant level advice, but are any of you doing this? Familiar with any of the rules surrounding this?

[Paulbot]

Ah so you're not a scalper... you're a business :P

[jaydisc]

Well, this is the story I hope to present. The only "sales" i have to demonstrate that I'm a biz are like 3 or 4 ebay transactions. I plan on arguing that selling now isn't worth it, and thus, I expect to take a 5,000 or so hit per year to build this stockpile. Now, the inverse effect of this scheme is that when and if I do ever sell the collection, I'll have to treat it as income.

I have no intention of truly being a business, scalper or anything but a collector. The text in italics is what I hope to present.

[TheDirtyDigger]

Haha...you make everything sound feasible Jd.

I'm gunna get you to act as a character witness at my next trial!

[Thanatos]

Are you sure that being a Transformers collector is possible to get out of taxation? Unless you're selling the collection in the 10-20 year mark you can't really apply a tax free status to your collecting can you?

[jaydisc]

Hey Thanatos.

The premise is that the collection is just stock that will be sold.

1. Since I am acquiring stock, this to me sounds like an operating expense.

2. If it is an investment that when reaped will be considered income, the investment should come out of my income before tax.

Basically, I'm looking to use my stock/investment as an expense that should be deducted from my income.

[Thanatos]

Sneaky Mr. Jaydisc. Very sneaky. Interesting premises too.

I'm not sure if it'll work, but keep us posted. I'd love to see this sort of thing happen.

[dirge]

"Scalper!!!!1!"

(:

[MV75]

I doubt you can use the capital of acquiring your collection as a tax write off.
________
Buy portable vaporizers

[1orion2many]

Have you got an ABN number and have registered as a small business, if so you may get away with it.