An IRS employee has been ordered to pay back taxes and penalties after she sold over $36,000 worth of merchandise on eBay without reporting it on her tax returns.
The U.S. Tax Court ruled that IRS revenue officer Andrea Fabiana Orellana failed to report income from sales of various pieces of designer clothing. She had unreported income of $15,320 in 2004 and $21,062 in 2005. Between 2000 and 2005, she was involved in over 7,000 eBay transactions.
During all or part of the tax years at issue petitioner sold items under several eBay user IDs, including, ambassgwf, andreafo, askme12go, and BlackTheRipper, the court said in its
Orellana characterized the sales as online garage sales and said that many of the items were designer clothes that had been sitting in her closet wasting space. Some were wedding gifts or were bought from gift cards received at her wedding. She said she retained few receipts, claiming, That would be ridiculous, unheard of.
The court agreed with the IRSs finding that she owed $14,912 in back taxes and penalties.
