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Dr. Love

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  1. Just because, as a hobbyist, you deducted various selling expenses (bags and boards, admission to conventions, gas to get to the post office) from the sales price in addition to the actual cost of goods to determine the profit, does not mean you (or your preparer) determined the amounts correctly. See below. I would argue, if I had to, that slabbing fees are cost of goods deductions as slabbing intrinsically creates a different product than a raw comic, beyond a presentation aspect like a bag and board. Again, this is the type of detail that would only come up in an audit, imho. "Hobbies are fun. They can also cost money. Sometimes they can make money. If you have an expensive hobby, can you deduct any of your expenses? Starting in 2018 after the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (HR 1, "TCJA"), the short answer is "no." For tax purposes, a hobby is an activity you engage in primarily for a purpose other than to make a profit. The IRS commonly classifies inherently "fun" activities like creating art, photography, crafts, writing, antique or stamp collecting, or training and showing dogs or horses as hobbies. Even if you occasionally make money doing such an activity, it is a hobby if your prime motivation is having fun, not earning a profit. Because hobbies are not businesses, hobbyists have never been allowed to take the tax deductions to which businesspeople are entitled. However, for decades the tax law did permit hobbyists to claim as an itemized deduction their hobby-related expenses up to the amount of income the hobby earned during the year. This was not a very generous deduction because of the limitations on itemized deductions, but it was better than nothing. Unfortunately for people who earn income from hobbies, the TCJA completely eliminates the itemized deduction for hobby expenses, along with all other miscellaneous itemized deductions. The prohibition on deducting these expenses goes into effect for 2018 and continues through 2025. This means that taxpayers will not be able to deduct any expenses they earn from hobbies during these years, but they still have to report and pay tax on any income they earn from a hobby! The deduction is scheduled to return in 2026. Example: Charles paints part-time as a hobby. He earns $3,000 from selling paintings in 2018 and has $2,000 in expenses. He must report and pay tax on his $3,000 in hobby income, but he may not deduct any of his hobby expenses, even if he itemizes his personal deductions. Example: if your hobby is selling baked goods, you could deduct the cost of ingredients. But you could not deduct expenses like the cost of delivering items or fees to be a vendor at a market."
  2. Been waiting for a Promise romance to resell - first entry for the genre. @MasterChief 8/16/21 for $1320 - 64% drop.
  3. Yeh, two other boardies were in on that one as well, both putting the value at around $250.
  4. Really interesting to see that HA is going with a modified two shot display for pulps. Instead of the traditional (for comics that is) straight on front and back covers, they're providing straight front and then a side shot of the back so as to include the spine. Which for pulps is absolutely the way to go imho.
  5. Here are the top 8 books from the HA 2/29-3/1/24 Golden Age Romance Featuring Fox Comics Showcase Auction: 1. Radiant Love #6 - no surprise here for what is a romance grail. With less than ten romance covers to his credit, Bernard Baily is extremely collectible. When you add in the equally disturbing Ideal Romance #6 (no graded copies), and Baily's work on the iconic Daring Love #1 (for which there is a single 9.0 and then it drops to 7.5), it's easy to see why this sole highest graded 8.0 OWW went for multiples of what a 4.0 got in 2022. I had figured it for between 3k and 6k - with HA you never know. They certainly bring the action from buyers who want the rarest and the best. 2. Youthful Hearts #1 - this was a surprise. A ped to be sure, and a nicely drawn cover as well, the Youthful brand is seeing some definite interest recently as one of the scarcer small publishers. But also this was among a handful of #1 issues in this auction that brought fierce action from bidders. 3. Romantic Adventures #49 - one of the ACG "Fab Four", a perennial fan favorite. As the highest graded copy and presenting nicely for the grade, it was certainly going to be one of the top highest hammers this time around. 4. Love Journal #10 - same goes for this book in terms of popularity. With only three romance covers to his credit, this standout Harry Anderson book is a must for the well rounded romance collector. In recent years it's made quite the appearance on the census with 15 graded copies - yet still, 6.5 is the sole highest. Some sharp eyed buyer picked up a 6.0 last year for only $1080 in a HA weekly. The power of the Showcase Auction? 5 and 8. Private Secretary raw VFs - gotta figure the same bidders were competing for the pair. These interesting painted Dells don't come around too often, especially the #2. But at almost 5K for the pair this result was certainly one of the least anticipated and most exciting to watch over the two days. Congrats to buyer and seller! 6. My Love Story #4 - this was an unexpected result for the Fox lineup. Sole highest graded, so there's that - but it also appears that depending on the book, the Light Tan discount may no longer be in effect. At least not for Fox. Again, the power of the Showcase Auction? 7. Teen Confessions #1 - beyond surprising. We knew there was interest in the Dells going in. But this raw F- post code Charlton? It's a first issue, and there are none on the census, but at $2,160 it seems the market is definitely heating up for silver Charlton romance. Its only taken 25 years to get here! And for this book, most emphatically one could say - the power of the Showcase Auction! The next Showcase Auction for this type of material is scheduled for 10/3/24 - Good Girl Art and Romance Comics. Not surprising, as this past auction featured a tremendous offering of non major romance publishers - no Baker, Cole, Atlas, and DC. What was also different was the proportion of raw to graded books at 75%. It's going to take the dealers a bit to catch up with the new pricing for raw books, since no GPA. Buy now my friends!
  6. We dig the ultimate Pike black cover with stippling and cross hatch! in '53 Pike and Hartley were going for the gold on their cover work big time. Colletta the fast learner coming up from behind in the following year or two. But neither Pike nor Hartley could keep up the same level of excellence on the interior work. Infantino, on the other hand - absolutely masterful.
  7. Was wondering how this one got away from me on the boards - shoulda known. Rightly priced at the time. You Brooklyn guys get the good stuff!
  8. For that book, actually not as crazy as you might think
  9. Metro was picking up these Crippen lots from HA. This came from a 21 book lot that sold in 2007 for $567.63. No back cover scans, and the front scans had a max of three books laid over each other. I always disliked how they did that for the group shots - still do. The #31 was graded at VF+, but at the time I wasn't willing to gamble on how they would press out, see below. Looks like pretty darn good! Great copy of a beautiful Ace book.
  10. big fan of the title - but of Hepcat too! long time no see, friend. Welcome back!