LEGO VIP Insiders/GWP Discussion

[nolan808]

Hi everyone

I have a quick question about vip points with regards to tax. Can anyone just confirm if it is correct to put the vip points once used as an expense or not?

An example would be say I bought a Lego set for £100 on the lego site and paid £50 via card but used £50 worth of vip points also would the whole £100 be classed as an expense I can use for tax purposes?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

[Captain_chaos]

1 hour ago, nolan808 said:

Hi everyone

I have a quick question about vip points with regards to tax. Can anyone just confirm if it is correct to put the vip points once used as an expense or not?

An example would be say I bought a Lego set for £100 on the lego site and paid £50 via card but used £50 worth of vip points also would the whole £100 be classed as an expense I can use for tax purposes?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Disclaimer: I am not a tax professional and have no idea what I'm talking about.

I think the answer is: it depends. 

If you buy a set for your own collection, but end up selling it for a profit at a later date, it isn't taxable in the first place, so you wouldn't need to worry. If you did buy it with the intention of selling it for profit, claiming the whole £100 as an expense would imply that you've already gained the value of £50 in VIP points at an earlier date. That would mean you'd have to treat your prior purchase amounts as what you paid in cash less the value of the VIP points, or alternatively by treating the points as extra income you'd need to pay tax on. I don't like that approach, as VIP points are worthless until redeemed, can't be used for anything else, and could potentially be cancelled or expire. To me it seems neater just to use final purchase price (after VIP redemption) as the expense you realise once you sell the set. 

Happy for anyone to shut me down / insult me if my understanding is wrong.

[iahawks550]

28 minutes ago, Captain_chaos said:

If you buy a set for your own collection, but end up selling it for a profit at a later date, it isn't taxable in the first place, so you wouldn't need to worry.

This is the kind of thinking that gets a letter from the IRS.

[Captain_chaos]

9 minutes ago, iahawks550 said:

This is the kind of thinking that gets a letter from the IRS.

That's unlikely for me since I'm not in the US. I don't know how the US approaches such things, but that isn't (to my understanding) a concern in the UK. Here, we have to pay capital gains tax on profits when selling a possession worth £6k or more (and almost no Lego set fits that description). 

[Bricklectic]

5 hours ago, nolan808 said:

Hi everyone

I have a quick question about vip points with regards to tax. Can anyone just confirm if it is correct to put the vip points once used as an expense or not?

An example would be say I bought a Lego set for £100 on the lego site and paid £50 via card but used £50 worth of vip points also would the whole £100 be classed as an expense I can use for tax purposes?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

if points not taxable on way in not expensable on way out. at least in the USA

[oneknightr]

Anyone know if the VIP coins and/or holder are still available to those that haven't redeemed a set yet? Just curious. I redeemed them all and they still show as "Redeemed" under my profile. I remember the article saying that if demand is low, they would allow people who have redeemed before to get more.

[Phil B]

31 minutes ago, oneknightr said:

Anyone know if the VIP coins and/or holder are still available to those that haven't redeemed a set yet? Just curious. I redeemed them all and they still show as "Redeemed" under my profile. I remember the article saying that if demand is low, they would allow people who have redeemed before to get more.

As of 12:40pm EST 1/26/2022:

[oneknightr]

36 minutes ago, Phil B said:

As of 12:40pm EST 1/26/2022:

Dang. That's now good for reselling at all. Doh!

[Gonkalin]

So are you saying you already got the coins with your VIP account and now it's letting you redeem points for them again? 

[oneknightr]

1 hour ago, oneknightr said:

Dang. That's now good for reselling at all. Doh!

Sorry for the typo...meant to say NOT good for reselling.

[eliminator]

Not yet re-redeemable for me.

[Lordoflego]

3 hours ago, Gonkalin said:

So are you saying you already got the coins with your VIP account and now it's letting you redeem points for them again? 

Not me. I got all the coins before and now all show as redeemed already. 

[BrickLover80]

On 1/24/2022 at 6:16 AM, Pseudoty said:

I think the buy in was based upon the original plan, buy the $200 Hotel Modular get a free Vintage Taxi which is a $15-20 set. I am hoping for Home Alone to be in stock need one to build plus have to redeem the Castle Coin. If not the 2X castle is a good plan but you will need to add a filler to reach the $200 threshold. 

Is it confirmed that the taxi was supposed to only come with the hotel? Because then there would be far fewer of them than a normal gwp.

[joch29]

4 hours ago, BrickLover80 said:

Is it confirmed that the taxi was supposed to only come with the hotel? Because then there would be far fewer of them than a normal gwp.

taxi now available with $200 purchase.

 

Quote

 

A Vintage Taxi gift

Arrive at the hotel in style with this Vintage Taxi, a classic version of the 1930's Citroën Traction Avant. Includes a taxi driver, suitcase, cookie, taxi stand and trash can plus lots of fun details. Receive this gift with your LEGO® purchase over $200, valid 1/28-2/13 while supplies last.*

 

 

 

[HandyHand]

Double promo here, in Europe at least: 

[Pseudoty]

Nothing in stock in the USA that I am not already at limits for. Was hoping for Home Alone to be back in stock. Hopefully the taxi will still be around Tuesday and there is a double promo. 

Edited January 28, 2022 by Pseudoty

[eliminator]

2 hours ago, HandyHand said:

Double promo here, in Europe at least: 

Nice. Wish we got that in North America. The only double-dip promo right now with the Taxi is the Friends Market Stall (30416) polybag, when spending $50 on Friends sets.

Are there any known promos starting 1 Feb?

[eliminator]

Well, looks like I took the bait, and finally redeemed the camera.

[Lordoflego]

[BrickLover80]

25 minutes ago, Lordoflego said:

Nice looking!

By any chance, did you ask how many your store got? Trying to figure out if supply is limited because it was only for the hotel or if there are a ton like the Ideas GWP sets.

 

[Lordoflego]

48 minutes ago, BrickLover80 said:

Nice looking!

By any chance, did you ask how many your store got? Trying to figure out if supply is limited because it was only for the hotel or if there are a ton like the Ideas GWP sets.

 

Unfortunately I did not. I’ll try to find out next time I’m at lego store. 

[HandyHand]

On 1/28/2022 at 8:11 PM, BrickLover80 said:

Trying to figure out if supply is limited because it was only for the hotel or if there are a ton like the Ideas GWP sets.

Don't know what the situation is over there in the USA, but here in Europe, after 6 days the Vintage Taxi promo is still available at LEGO Shop at Home with purchases. 

I received my Vintage Taxi with my order and personally I think the Vintage Taxi is a pretty small promo with too high a threshold. Compare the box and piece count with the Sailboat Adventures promo and see what I mean. Small box vs big box. 163 pieces of Lego vs 330 pieces of Lego. 1 included minifig vs 2 included minifigs and 2 included dolphins! 

Sold my Vintage Taxi for 30 Euro. Right before the run to the bottom with supply increasing and demand diminishing.  

[eliminator]

I think a major contributing factor to the Taxi still being in stock is the lack of 'big sets' in stock and the fact that we are in the 'post holiday sales slump.'

I would buy more sets if only they were available to order...

Sailboat was a nice promo. Sold mine for $50 locally in a day. Kinda wish I kept it!

[BrickLover80]

16 minutes ago, eliminator said:

I think a major contributing factor to the Taxi still being in stock is the lack of 'big sets' in stock and the fact that we are in the 'post holiday sales slump.'

I would buy more sets if only they were available to order...

Sailboat was a nice promo. Sold mine for $50 locally in a day. Kinda wish I kept it!

I agree that lack of supply of big sets didn't help. Neither does the fact that it's very small. As I said above, it's more like the ideas car, which had an $85 buy in and poofed very fast last year. 

I still think there was more supply of the taxi than what would be there if it was truly just for the hotel. 

[legorunner]

1 hour ago, BrickLover80 said:

I agree that lack of supply of big sets didn't help. Neither does the fact that it's very small. As I said above, it's more like the ideas car, which had an $85 buy in and poofed very fast last year. 

Agreed, $200 is really high and for something this size I don't think it really tips the scales. I went to my local store earlier this week, planned out a purchase, but then left empty handed. I don't really need any big sets at the moment and couldn't justify combining several smaller sets that I do want at RRP just for that small car, as much as I do like the car. At $85 I would have ordered something day 1 for sure and probably a couple more orders to get extras as well. Hopefully LEGO gets the hint moving forward, but probably not, they are doing just fine without impulse buys right now...