“……If you're selling a vehicle that you've owned and used as personal transportation then to me there is nothing to report that would result in a tax liability………If I sell my welder and all the accessories for $1000 that is not "income". If I built a really nice welding cart, had it painted and pinstriped by some know striper and sold the setup for $5000 it's still not income if I'm not a licensed business selling equipment………”

Roger I think you will find that the way the IRS looks at it is simply if you are making a profit on it regardless of what it is it is income regardless of if you are a business or not.

In the case of most private sells of automobiles the seller has more invested in the vehicle that he will receive when he sells it, so in effect he is taking a loss and no income is made to report. If however you find a great deal on car, buy it and eventually sell it for twice what you paid for it, legally you are supposed to report the profit as income on your federal tax return. The same hold true for any other property, including your welder example, whether you’re a business or not. The only difference is that if you are a business you are allowed to show the transaction as a deduction if you end up losing money on the sale.

That is for the federal side of the taxes. As far as the state taxing the private sell of vehicles, that varies from state to state and is usually on the buyer to pay.