Quote from vk60546:
two questions:
1. How do taxes in the US work? Lets say (very hypothetically speaking) that I've started out with 10K and earned 40K this year, making my net profit 30K for this year. If I decide to keep the money (all stocks) in my account, will I be required to report this as income or does it count as income only when I transfer the money from my brokerage account to my bank account?
1 a - if this is a profit from stocks, is this treated as a short term capital gains and is it then taxed the same as additional income from my job?
2. Lets say I wanted to find a successful trader to trade my 10K for say, 20% annual return.
2a - is this an unreasonable request? I'd think that a big risk should demand a bigger return.
2b - how to find a trader willing to trade my ca$h and how to make sure they are not a scammer? Probably need to ask their annual income statements, eh? But how can they give that info to me and keep their privacy?
A. The 30K of "unrealized gains" will not be subject to tax until you close your trade. When you close the trade, the gains will be taxed at the short term rate of up to 33% (depending on your total income). The 30K will also be added to income and you will pay taxes on ordinary income. This should answer question 1.
