trader

trader in U. S. income tax law, a person who deals in property as a business, making several purchases and sales within a year as distinguished from a few sales of assets held for investment. Thus a trader will lose the right to defer capital gains by "exchanging" for another property. The exact details require consultation with a C.P.A. or attorney.

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See also: broker, dealer, merchant, speculator, supplier, vendor

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TRADER. One who makes it his business to buy merchandise or goods and chattels, and to sell the same for the purpose of making a profit. The quantum of dealing is immaterial, when an intention to deal generally exists. 3 Stark. 56; 2 C. & P. 135; 1 T. R. 572.
     2. Questions as to who is a trader most frequently arise under the bankrupt laws, and the most difficult among them are those cases where the party follows a business which is not that of buying and selling principally, but in which he is occasionally engaged in purchases and sales.
     3. To show who is a trader will be best illustrated by a few examples: A farmer who in addition to his usual business, occasionally buys a horse not calculated for his usual occupation, and sells him again to make a profit, and who in the course of two years had so bought and sold five or six horses, two of which had been sold after be bad bought them for the sake of a guinea profit, was held to be a trader. 1 T. R. 537, n.; 1 Price, 20. Another firmer who bought a large quantity of potatoes, not to be used on his farm, but merely to sell again for a profit, was also declared to be a trader. 1 Str. 513. See 7 Taunt. 409; 2 N. R. 78; 11 East, 274. A butcher who kills only such cattle as be has reared himself is not a trader, but if he buy them and kill and sell them with a view to profit, he is a trader. 4 Burr. 21, 47. See 2 Rose, 38; 3 Camp. 233 Cooke, B. L. 48, 73; 2 Wils. 169; 1 Atk. 128; Cowp.745. A brickmaker who follows the business, for the purpose of enjoying the profits of his real estate merely, is not a trader; but when he buys the earth by the load or otherwise, and manufactures it into bricks, and sells them with a view to profit, he is a trader. Cook, B. L. 52, 63; 7 East, 442; 3 C. & P. 500; Mood. & M. 263 2 Rose, 422; 2 Glyn & J. 183; 1 Bro. C. C. 173. For further examples, the reader is referred to 4 M. & R. 486; 9 B. & C. 577; 1 T. R. 34; 1 Rose, 316; 2 Taunt. 178; 2 Marsh. 236; 3 M. & Scott. 761; 10 Bing. 292 Peake, 76; 1 Vent. 270; 3 Brod. & B. 2 6 Moore, 56.