Appleseed wrote: I'd say the $400 you paid for it IS the fair market value for it. That's what you paid for it. Should you be penalized for sitting on it for all those years?
Wait a minute... that's not right. Its amazing how confused people get on FMV.
FMV is Fair Market Value. That's TODAY'S value, not some value from 20 years ago. FMV is the going rate for items on the open marketplace without any deep "buddy" discounts.
FMV is NOT, however, your budget amount, Ranger. You built a transmission for a particular amount. Your time counts for nothing, the parts are whatever you paid for them.
What you are actually saying is simply that you lost your receipts. It has NOTHING to do with FMV.
If you spent $400 to build it, you spent $400 to build it. Period. No FMV.
Since you lost your receipts, the only thing you have to do is come up with a reasonable way to document it. This thread will probably suffice.
So, our discussion is about the effort you put into a transmission you built a long time ago. I don't hear anyone doubting you, nor doubting the prices you have named. Therefore, I would say your budget amount of $400 plus core is reasonable, and none of us are going to protest it.
It has NOTHING to do with FMV. If you want to use FMV, then it is the value of a freshly built transmission with whatever upgrade parts in TODAY'S market. I can't imagine why you would do that.
Print this thread, and use it as a receipt. Done.
