Zeev's Turnips Patch-No Politics (ZEEV)

[Newly2b]

Thanks, Bob.

The question was hypothetical, since I trade mostly in my IRAs. I did not, however, realize until today that there was no SE tax on "traders'" gains since the IRS treats them as gains from the sale of property used in the business, and not as earned income.

The advantages I can see are one can write off expenses, and one's entire trading losses (if one has them) against regular income each year.

The downside would be the bookkeeping and the inability to write off any capital losses carried-forward from previous years against current trading gains except up to $3K/year.

So, let's see if I've got this -- for tax purposes, one is either an investor or a trader, and to be considered a trader by the IRS one MUST use m-to-m, otherwise the IRS considers one an investor with capital gains, correct? Am I missing anything?

Newly