Hi,
Bicycles that are sold, even if donated, are subject to sales tax in every state. I know of a non-profit reuse organization that ended up owing 150k for not paying sales tax.

In NYS, reuse companies are required to get  a special commercial license. Non-profits are exempt from this requirement. I'm not sure how this is applied in other states. 

For accounting purposes, second hand bicycles are not assigned a dollar value in the end of year inventory: only items that we paid for with the intent for resale.

Karen
Recycle-A-Bicycle

On Fri, Jun 5, 2015 at 11:56 AM, Angel York <aniola@gmail.com> wrote:

Assuming that you're run under a nonprofit, I think that if people give you bikes, those are donations. If people buy the bikes, I think that's a donation as well and I'm not sure they have to pay taxes.  I would call the IRS to confirm.

On May 23, 2015 7:33 AM, "Martin, Eric Vance" <evmartin@indiana.edu> wrote:
Clarification: I don't mean anything to do with sales taxes, which we pay on everything we sell. I mean, is this effectively a (cash) donation? Would it be evidence of public support for the IRS?



> On May 23, 2015, at 10:17 AM, Martin, Eric Vance <evmartin@indiana.edu> wrote:
>
> People give us bikes, and we sell them. This is our main income.
>
> Should we be treating this/reporting this as related business income or as a donation (realized FMV of an in-kind donation)? What do you guys do?
>
> We have a fiscal agent. Let's say the answer does not affect their public support test.
>
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