Bartering Takes Off
Bartering for what you want is, by all accounts, a booming business.
The New York Times reported recently that people are finding ways to exchange goods and services like haircuts, massages and carpentry when a trade is preferable than spending money.
A retired neighbor of mine manages the books for the owner of a local nursery. In exchange for her help, the nursery owner has done some landscaping and much-needed masonry work for her.
My mother, an artist, gets her tax returns done pro bono by a Manhattan accountant with a fondness for fine art.
It only takes a quick check of Craig’s List to see there’s a whole community of people who have figured out how to get what they want without exchanging money.
But here’s the bad news, a surprise for many people — according to the IRS, the fair-market value of goods and services received in exchange for goods or services must be reported as income in the year it was received.
That’s a pretty broad but unforgiving definition of “revenue.”
