Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Pastimes : Clown-Free Zone... sorry, no clowns allowed -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: dpl who wrote (97540)	4/24/2001 8:34:09 AM
From: Ilaine	Respond to of 436258

>>Special rules apply if you are a trader in securities in the business of buying and selling securities for your own account. To be engaged in business as a trader in securities, you must meet all the following conditions. You must seek to profit from daily market movements in the prices of securities and not from dividends, interest, or capital appreciation. Your activity must be substantial. You must carry on the activity with continuity and regularity. The following facts and circumstances should be considered in determining if your activity is a securities trading business. 1.Typical holding periods for securities bought and sold. 2.The frequency and dollar amount of your trades during the year. 3.The extent to which you pursue the activity to produce income for a livelihood. 4.The amount of time you devote to the activity. If your trading activities are not a business, you are considered an investor, and not a trader. It does not matter whether you call yourself a trader or a "day trader."<< Right. So what does that mean? I'd have to dig through reams of IRS interpretations and tax court decisions before I could even guess, and even then you'd probably be in a gray area. Not that being in a gray area should stop anyone - Congress wrote the statute, the Supreme Court is the ultimate arbiter of the statute, and the IRS will push you around if they can. Be aware that going mano-a-mano with the IRS isn't easy or cheap (unless you want to go pro se, which you can, as an individual, not as a business entitity), but you don't have to knuckle under if you are sure you are right, or willing to pay to find out.