You create it. You sell. You pay tax.

Hi June,

I am a web designer ... 8+ years.

Hi June. I was directed to your site from a friend who spoke very highly of your tax knowledge for the self-employed :) Anyway, I have a situation where a website I created/owned was sold to an individual in Australia for a fairly substantial amount of money. Its come time where I need to file taxes, and I was wondering what you thought might be the best way to claim the sale.

I've been told either: long-term capital gain or self-employment income. The situation is fairly sketchy, as the person I sold to is unlikely to report the sale, so I have no forms, etc. I'd obviously like to be taxed the least amount possible :)

FYI: I ran the site for fun for about 1.5 years before the sale. It was an online deal-finding site, with social elements.

Thanks!
Pete
Palo Alto, CA


Dear Pete,

I assume you are a self-employed web designer. The site you sold is your creation and so it is taxable self-employed income to you.

Couple other things: The fact that nobody is going to get any paper saying that you sold it for $XX does not mean it's not taxable. If you don't claim the income it's fraud. That's really not good.

And, you guys got to watch out for all that tax advice you get from Aunt Tillie. Capital gains income. Good golly!

Check out this similar question: Indies: Your creation is your work and is subject to SE tax.

Best,
June