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I went through a nightmare a few years back, due to a mistake made by a professional tax preparer (missed a “0”) turning a 5 figure gross income into a 4 figure sum. Accountants don’t seem to comprehend this type of business, however the one that guided me through the mess did, and converted my inventory into what they call “FIFO” (first in first out) basically all your stock purchases are subtracted from your gross sales each year. It is the easiest method by far, as you don’t have to assign a cost to each piece (and minifigure). Paypal will issue a 1099 for receipts totaling $20,000 or more AND more than 200 transactions. They don’t send it to you, you have to go find it and print it. Now bare in mind you are considered a business if you buy a good or goods with the intention of selling for a profit. Regardless of how much you make. I would strongly advise against “it’s only a hobby” and ignore your $12,000 unreported income. It’ll bite you sooner or later. Register your business with the state, you can then make tax exempt purchases from some sources, such as Amazon and Walmart. Means you have to charge in-state sales tax, but the benefits far outweigh the extra work reporting. You may find free tax prep in your area, it’s called VITA (volunteer income tax assistance) we use this. It’s basically graduating accountants supervised by a senior accountant, who where we go used to work for the IRS and he knows every single creative deduction. This is based on the assumption you are in the USA

I simply report all my purchases in a given year as my cost of doing business, and all my sales for that year as revenue. First few years I ran a loss, now I am reporting profits which get taxed. My accountant sanctioned this method and it is super simple. I did develop a complex database system that parted sets out and assigned a buy-in value based on weight of the piece vs weight of the total set, but I abandonded that pretty quickly as it was just too cumbersome to use when the above method is equally usable.

I don't have anything to contribute to the search, however, can not stress enough that everyone should have Insurance taken out on their collections. Business or Personal just DO IT. I believe it costs me about $25 a month for up to $50,000. Also, this is a business expense that can be written off. Best of luck in your search. However, and this is awful to say this, but you might just want to have a beer and consider it gone forever and move on. It might be better physiological in the long-run for you. Life sucks sometimes and sometimes when you step away, something might pop up. Take care, I know it is devastating. EDIT: This is also one of my biggest fears. Not losing the collection, but having someone violate my families space and putting us at risk. A reason why I have slowed down in keeping things in my home and moving nearly everything off-site.

Navy Exchanges don't sell used goods...they're more like mini-Walmarts with even better prices and no taxes. Probably not worth looking there, but it might be worth letting the Military Police at their next duty station know what's going on. They would likely be able to help if the family was living (or had a storage unit) on base...but it sounds like they were renting from you in town. Sorry this happened to you.

I'm very sorry to hear this. My son had all of his major sets stolen in transit when we last moved. He was young enough at the time that at first he was just confused. He couldn't comprehend why his sets were simply gone. Thankfully we had insurance through the moving company and they paid for it. So what is your insurance for that property? Sounds like you have a good inventory, hopefully some pics or at least receipts. That could one avenue while pursuing the rest. In fact, the insurance company might start their own investigation. The other thought that occurred to me is if they are a Navy family, there might be a Navy / military exchanges that you should be checking as well. I would think the cops would check this out, but I hear you on nothing happening. I'm sure this is a low priority for them. Praying for you!

sorry to hear that. I am nowhere near your place tho. You may also want to check mercari as lego sales ramping up on that platform lately.

I watched it with my two kids age 4 and 6. They loved the builds, but kept asking "Why is that man wearing a dress" and "why does he have a bow in his hair." Frankly, I'm not ready for these kind of conversations...

Haha. My kids were annoyed by the concept of "commercials". We are not the audience for this show, let's be honest. I agree with the comment that the first ep editing was a little choppy, but really it's no different than Top Chef or something where early on when you have a ton of people you just can't see them all in depth. My kids really enjoyed Will Arnett as the host. They gave this show a great time slot lead in (although there was grumbling in our house for sure from my wife wondering why they would put a Lego focused show at 9 pm vs. 8 pm on another night, which is a good question). If you think this show is going to be getting deep on building techniques then just head to YouTube. For this community it is going to be a great thing if it maintains some viewers, as it is for sure going to draw some people out of their dark ages.

sold my last Minecraft The Wither 21126 for $199.99 fba. buyin was $19. only 2 sellers left on the listing .

So sorry to hear about your son's sets too. Just awful. Insurance wise I've been given the shaft too. Apparently the homeowners insurance I had only covered me if something was stolen that was deemed necessary for the running of a rental property. So...if my lawnmower had been stolen from the shed then that would be covered. All my LEGO.....apparently not. Even more salt to the wound