How to Make Legitimate Income Without the Taxes

Let’s be serious here for a moment. Unless you are really into math and reading through government regulation booklets, tax season can be a real pain in the you know what. Figuring out what is and is not taxable can be confusing. Unless you work an under-the-table gig, which is technically illegal and can certainly get you into a load of trouble with the good old IRS, chances are most people will be paying some form of taxes. But, in the event that you might be interested in finding out some ways to make some cash that the government won’t be expecting a cut of, here are a few options.

Each summer, loads of families hold garage or yard sales to clear out the house or get rid of some things they might not want to move to another location. No matter what the reason for it may be, you generally do not have to pay taxes on income generated from a yard sale. The exception is when your yard sale actually becomes a business. According to IRS Publication 525, “if you sold items that you owned for personal use such as a car, refrigerator, furniture, stereo, jewelry, or silverware, your gain is taxable as a capital gain.” However, since most items at a yard sale are not sold for a gain (meaning you are generally selling for less than you bought them), they are non-taxable.

So, to put is as simply as I can, if you sell things that you bought for less than you bought them originally, the money you make is free and clear. But, if you go dumpster diving for item to sell or buy and resell items online at a profit, you fall into a business and thus would have to pay tax.

By extension, it would be my guess that if you trade in goods for cash, like used electronics, since you won’t be getting the money they cost you, the cash is all yours tax-free. But I would check with a tax professional just to be sure.

The second thing to know is that “gifts” are tax-free income. If your relative send you $25 for your birthday, it’s free money. While that’s no biggie, it extends to pretty much any amount of money you get as a gift regardless of who it is from (except employee bonuses). So, if you have someone, or a group of someones, gift you $10,000. It’s still tax-free. Again, I would guess this extends to gifts given through sites like Go Fund Me but I’m not certain.

The last way I can suggest to “earn” if you will is through rebates. The reason I put “earn” in quotes is that you to have to spend something for this one. But chances are you were going to buy that product anyway so you’re really not losing anything. Rebates are tax-free. If you belong to a site like E-Bates, anything you get back doesn’t have to have a portion go to the good old IRS. By my definition, this would also be likely to apply to other apps like Receipt Hog or Fetch rewards which pay you for uploading copies of your receipts.

You probably won’t make a ton of money with any of these methods but every bit counts. On rare occasions you might make enough in a year to work as a salary. Even if that’s not the case, making a few hundred or a few thousand more a year is nothing to sneeze at. It might pay a bill or two or help you upgrade to that slightly pricier car or shiny new mobile phone.