will depend on local laws here in Springfield Il. it is legal

As George says, most likely not a problem. Do you mean having a sale or two, similar to a garage/tag sale? I see that often, and have taken plants to a friends annual Spring garage sale (pays the water bill :))

If you were thinking along the lines of a full time small business other than a couple of weekends, you might need a business license depending on your state....that license is about $20 here.

Of course, it is legal to sell garden produce, and you can probably do so without getting in trouble, but you are probably playing audit lottery.

In most states (with a sales tax) you should pay the state the required % sales tax. After you spend a day or so learning about the law, registering, complying with all the crap you put up with, the postal service and the phone company will be the big winners.

If you make a profit, the IRS will have an interest in taxing you for income and self-employment taxes. (I dare them to come after me for my few sales of $10 watermelons last year.)

If they insist I report it, I will have such a huge loss to deduct on my Schedule F, they will be sorry they messed with me.

Tom

Oops! Guess I should have put in a few limitations. You could very well get in serious trouble with a few crops. Stay away from selling cannabis, coca, a few poppies, and possibly a few other noxious weeds, or you could meet up with another Federal agency that might be even harder to deal with than the IRS.

If they insist I report it, I will have such a huge loss to deduct on my Schedule F, they will be sorry they messed with me.
Sounds similar to the case of The $64 Tomato (see link below)...lol

You might want to be careful with 'some' things being poisonous...like Daturas...I have read that all parts of the plant are poisonous. Maybe just consider selling things you know are safe.

Sue

Here is a link that might be useful: The $64 Tomato

If you are getting deep into it, you have to be careful about propagating different patented plant varieties without permission. I do not know if you are thinking about getting this fancy or not.

Here is a link that might be useful: ABOUT PATENTED VARIETIES

I actually had this thought earlier today. My idea was to have an annual yard/plant sale.

It should be like any other small business. You can start it from home and don't have to report it to the IRS unless you make more than $1000. Or at least that was my understanding when I mowed grassed in the summers for extra cash.

Pretty close. You don't have to report it unless you earn more than $600 a year. At that point, it must be reported.

~Angela

angelady

Pretty close.

Actually, the IRS assesses self-employment tax on net earnings of $400 or more from self-employment, so it requires a return to be filed if there are gross earnings from self-employment of $400 or more, without regard to other minimum income from non self-employment reporting requirements.

Tom

Oh, and your state sales tax law probably has no lower limit for retail sales amounts. Sell somebody three ears of corn or a tomato for $1.00, and you probably owe the state $.06, $.08, or $.10. Probably not a big deal for you, but for me (retired CPA) some prosecutor would love making a career name by convicting me of tax evasion. Wow! Imagine the headlines.

If not for this, I would probably sell more to non-neighbors. I grow way more than I can use, so I provide the neighborhood with about all they will accept. Would be nice to be able to sell the surplus, but I would never put up with the hassle of retail sales.

Uh, my few watermelon sales last year were just mutual gift exchanges.

I have thought about trying to sell produce wholesale to a local grocery store (they do sell some locally grown produce), but, before this year, we always just froze or canned the surplus we could not give away. I imagine the hassle and quality control and limited supply issues would make that more trouble than it would be worth.

Before this year, My "nurse" helped my give away everything we could not use. I am without her now, so, I don't know what to do with any surplus. I guess I should pray for crop failure.

Tom

Tom, do you have a local food bank or community 'feed the hungry' program? This is a smallish town and we have both. They would be grateful for your excess produce and keep a list of volunteers for both pick up and any necessary packaging, in the case of 'feed the hungry, also the cooking and serving.

In some cases you may need to have your plants inspected by your local ag department (usually a once-per-year thing). It's definitely needed if you ship plants. The main thing they're looking for is that you don't send plants contaminated with some hateful bug or disease, or have something bad in the soil. I don't know if there are any special requirements for just selling locally. I think even people who sell plants at farmer's markets have to be inspected periodically.

--Ron

morz8:

No local food bank or organized "feed the hungry" program, but last year we did give produce to an assisted living establishment where my "nurse" worked part-time, and some of my older prior clients now reside, and I think she gave some to the "senior citizens center", where they serve daily meals to seniors. Heck, I could probably eat there, if I ever ate lunch.

Tom

lemecdutex:

I think that is only a California and possibly Arizona thing. I have never heard of the KS Dept. of Agriculture expressing any interest in garden produce.

I remember traveling to California several times as a child, when we were stopped at the CA state line and grilled about the presence of any plant or non-human animal components inside the car. If you had any, it was usually confiscated.

Tom

Tom, yes, that happened to my mom, who was quite annoyed when they took her lunch! I have mixed feelings about it, on the one hand, you see what happened to the chestnuts and elms back east, and think it's a good thing, on the other, it can be pretty annoying. Still, I never want to see Japanese Beetles get a foothold here.

--Ron

I would think if you're doing it like a yard sale once a year, you wouldn't have to charge sales tax. People having garage sales don't pay sales tax!

Deanna

There is a house few miles from us, I pass it on my way to work, last few weeks they had yellow squash and zuccinni on the table in front yard with a sign "Free. Donations are welcome". Do you think that would work?

I would think that would be fine. I have looked into a bit of this, while trying to start my own home-based business. I would really be surprised to hear that a person with an occasional surplus of produce would have the IRS come after them.

When I buy fruit trees from the local (Gainesville, Fl) Lowe's, they never charge me sales tax for them, although perennials and other plants and trees get taxed. I'm not sure if it's a state thing or what.

It is definitely not legally advisable without extensive knowledge. You could by putting yourself into a situation like Mrs. O'Leary's cow. I considered it but then I quickly realized I'd need to be both an expert on laws regarding such sales and an agribusiness expert for every jurisdiction I shipped plants or seeds to. Of course I reject such a part without the expertise.