The December records close for a card seller
Which open lots to close before the year ends, why an unclosed lot's cost sits in no year's numbers, and the Tax pack export for your accountant.
The December records close for a card seller
The December records close is the once-a-year check of every lot still open in BreakCount before your tax year ends: a decision about whether each one is still for sale, sold through, or given up on, not a count of boxes on a shelf. That decision matters because of one rule the Tax pack states on its own screen: costs land when a lot closes, so a part-sold lot still open at the period end has not been counted yet, in this year's records or any other year's.
Nothing forces you to close a lot on any particular date, and nothing here tells you to. The records close is the once-a-year moment to look at what is still open, know exactly what each one is doing to your numbers, and decide on purpose rather than by accident.
Does an open card lot count as cost of goods for the year?
No. BreakCount's Tax pack counts a lot's cost only on the date it closes, sold out or written off, so a lot still open on 31 December has not been counted in any tax year yet, even if most of its cards already sold. The sales themselves still land in the year they sold; it is only the matching cost that waits for the close.
Three things an open lot can be, and what each one does to your year
Every open lot on your Inventory board is one of these three, and the choice changes what shows up in a tax year, never what actually happened:
| What it is | What to do | What it does to your records |
|---|---|---|
| Still genuinely for sale | Leave it open | Its cost sits out of every year's numbers, this one and next, until the day it actually closes |
| Sold through, nothing left | Mark sold out | Closes it: its cost and every sale it produced land in the tax year the close date falls in |
| Given up on selling the rest | Write off | Also closes it, as a realised loss; counted on its own line so an accountant can see it separately |
What happens if you never close a card lot?
Its cost never reaches a tax-year summary at all, in the same way unsold stock never reaches cost of goods sold until it is counted at a period's end. The sales it already produced keep showing gross profit with no cost behind them until the lot closes, which is not wrong, it is simply unfinished: the lot's story has not ended yet.
Close the shows waiting on a cost too
A lot is not the only thing that can sit half-finished. The Tax pack also flags shows in your chosen period that have a sale still waiting on a lot cost, in amber, with a direct link to add it. Add those costs before you pull a year-end export, or a sale that belongs in this year's numbers is missing its other half until you do.
Should you write off a card lot just to close out the year?
Only if you have actually given up on selling what is left. A write-off is a real, realised loss, not a tidying move, and BreakCount does not require you to close anything at year end: an open lot is honest about being open. Marking one sold out or written off by mistake is also not permanent, a closed lot can be reopened from the same screen.
Pull the export once every open lot has a real answer
The Tax pack's period picker opens on your own tax year, Australian financial year, UK tax year or the calendar year, plus a custom range, and states its own basis on screen: sales and fees count on their sale date, lot cost counts on the day the lot closed, other costs count on their own date. That is what makes it a fair place to check your work: pull the year you are closing, and every lot you closed above already shows in it, cost included.
Two CSV exports come with the same screen, a summary and a closed-lot detail file, both built for handing straight to an accountant. Neither is tax advice, and the pack says so on its own page; it is your sales record, dated and added up. The Tax pack itself sits on the Breaker plan; closing a lot, marking it sold out or written off, and everything else this page describes is free on every plan.
The record either way
The per item and inventory COGS methods an accountant chooses between both need the same thing this page is about: knowing what is still on the shelf and what has actually sold, dated correctly. Cost of goods for card resellers covers the method choice; this page is what closing a lot in BreakCount actually does once that choice is made. The wider question of what gets taxed at all is in Whatnot taxes for sellers.