Posed these question to my CPA the other day:
Question: If I was a farmer and had $1000 worth of corn and my nieghbor had a $1000 worth of potatoes, and we decided to swap one for the other, would there be any taxes due?
Answer: No.
Question: If I wanted to keep the corn, but agreed to plow his fields for him in exchange for the potatoes, would there be any taxes due?
Answer: Yes.
So why is it I'm not taxed on my labor of growing the corn and exchanging it for the potatoes, but I am for doing some labor in exchange for the potatoes?
Screwed up if you ask me.