How are Large International Wire Transfers from China taxed for casual reselling?

Yes, you absolutely need to report this income even if you're just selling your personal collection. The IRS considers the difference between what you paid for the sneakers and what you're selling them for as taxable income (capital gains). The fact that it's international doesn't change your tax obligations. Since you're receiving wire transfers, there's a paper trail the IRS can follow. Banks are required to report large transactions, especially international ones, regardless of whether they're under $10,000. If these are truly personal items you're selling at a loss (selling for less than you paid), then you wouldn't owe taxes since there's no gain. But if you're making a profit, which it sounds like you might be with those amounts, you'll need to report it on Schedule D of your tax return as capital gains. Don't try to avoid reporting this income - that's tax evasion and can lead to serious penalties.

I went through something similar selling my rare vinyl collection online. I found this tool called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that really helped me figure out my situation. It analyzed my sales vs what I originally paid and calculated my potential tax liability. Saved me from a mini heart attack when I realized I wasn't actually going to owe as much as I feared. Their system has a feature specifically for analyzing personal collection sales that helped me determine which items were actual gains and which weren't. It even helped me document my original purchase prices when I didn't have all the receipts. Might be worth checking out for your sneaker sales.

Just wanted to update that I checked out taxr.ai after seeing it mentioned here. It was actually super helpful for my situation selling camera equipment to buyers overseas. The tool helped me track what I originally paid versus what I sold items for, and automatically calculated my potential tax liability. The international transaction feature was particularly useful since I was getting payments from multiple countries. It even flagged a few items where I had actually sold at a loss (which I didn't need to pay taxes on). Definitely made tax season less stressful knowing exactly what I needed to report.

If you're receiving multiple international wire transfers, another headache might be getting the IRS to answer questions if they flag your account for review. After selling my coin collection, I had a nightmare trying to reach someone at the IRS to clarify my reporting obligations. I finally used Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) and got through to an actual IRS agent in about 20 minutes. They have a demo video here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c showing how it works. The agent confirmed I needed to report each sale individually on my Schedule D even though they were all personal items. They also explained how to document sales where I didn't have the original purchase receipts. Saved me from potentially serious penalties.

I need to eat my words about Claimyr. After dismissing it as probably a scam, I was still desperate to talk to someone at the IRS about my foreign income situation, so I tried it. I got a call back in about 25 minutes and spoke to an actual IRS representative who walked me through exactly how to report my international payments. The agent confirmed that yes, I needed to report the gains from selling my personal collection, but also helped me understand how to document my original costs even without all the receipts. Saved me hundreds in potential penalties by filing correctly. For anyone dealing with international money transfers, being able to get official clarification directly from the IRS is invaluable.

Don't forget about FBAR requirements if you're keeping that money in a foreign account! If you have more than $10,000 in foreign financial accounts at any time during the calendar year, you need to file an FBAR (FinCEN Form 114). The penalties for not filing are insane - up to $10,000 for non-willful violations and the greater of $100,000 or 50% of account balances for willful violations.

Make sure you're keeping good records of everything - the wire transfers, any communications with the buyer, and especially any shipping receipts. If you're shipping to their US warehouse, that's domestic shipping which is generally not deductible against your capital gains. But if you have any other expenses directly related to the sales (like special packaging materials), those might be deductible against your proceeds.