Bartering laws

[Jennie@ifish]

Does anyone understand bartering laws, and where people can run into trouble?
From time to time I am notified on ifish that someone is attempting to illegally barter. I have no idea where lines are crossed, or where things are legal or not.

For instance, can someone post, Will trade fishing trip for a canoe?"

Is that legal?

How bout if they are a legal guide, or if they aren't?
Does it matter?

Are the laws simple, or complicated?

Jen

[baltz526]

all i know is bartering laws are about collecting tax money.putting a dollar value on each item traded,be they services like guiding or material like fish eggs.when you look at the dollar value of traded items all other normal rules apply to the transaction. it is just very hard for government agencys to track these trades to enforce any rules or law.or collect taxes

[Thumper]

Shades of gray apply here. Like Baltz says, it's all about taxes. I doubt that anyone would get juiced about me trading a day on the river for a quart of your eggs, or a BBQed steak for a load of laundry. But things get a bit more uptight when goods and services worth big (read taxable) bucks get exchanged.

The revenue folks, both state and federal, have a rule they apply. Some agents call it "de minimis". If it costs more to collect the tax than it is worth in revenue, they tend not to get very steamed about it. I think that is the best litmus test.

[Silver Hilton]

I don't about the laws in toto, but as far as you are concerned, Jenny, there are probably two issues: people bartering for stuff on ifish, and people batering with you for ifish deals. For you, it's income, and you have to claim the fair market value of the received goods as income for purposes of any tax calculation. As far as people offering barter transactions through ifish, it's no different than any other transaction, would be my guess. It's up to the parties in question to comply with any laws, tax or otherwise. Your liability should be nil. But I'm not a lawyer, and my tax classes are 20 years old. But that was back when bartering was the new big thing.

[2LEYS]

People actually notify you of this stuff?

[Jennie@ifish]

Oh yeah!