sell by auction or not?

[George M. Purtill Member #28]

Originally Posted by G. Wells

In order for personal property to qualify for a 1031 exchange - Qualified Use Personal Property

You must have held the relinquished personal property for rental, investment or use in your trade or business, and must have the intent to hold the like-kind replacement personal property for rental, investment or use in his business. Personal property not held for rental, investment or use in your trade or business is not considered to be qualified use personal property and will not qualify for 1031 Exchange treatment.

Agreed but a lot of Parker Collectors could qualify on the "investment" prong of that test.

[George M. Purtill Member #28]

We do 1031 exchanges for real estate alot and I bet I could do a set of forms for Gun sales for people who are upgrading their collections or re-investing the proceeds.

[C.O.B.]

I would imagine there would have to be some form of a cost basis that the seller would have to prove for there to be a gain. If I sold my collection of Pre 64 M70's for $X who is to say there is a gain or not?

[G. Wells]

I think you might have it a little backwards about having to prove a cost basis to establish gain. Worst case, if you were audited by the IRS, you might have to prove basis in order for it all not to be treated as gain. See the prior post about signing false tax returns.