Buisnesses like e-bay cover their butts so if there is any chance something is required, they will send the paperwork. It is the tax reason to do things like the liabity reason for all California buisnesses having prop 65 warnings at their entrances.
rrebell Buisnesses like e-bay cover their butts so if there is any chance something is required, they will send the paperwork.
Buisnesses like e-bay cover their butts so if there is any chance something is required, they will send the paperwork.
Rich
Alton Junction
richhotrain rrebell Buisnesses like e-bay cover their butts so if there is any chance something is required, they will send the paperwork. I don't believe that CYA is the reason that eBay will send out 1099-Ks to individual sellers. It is the law, so eBay must send out those Forms to affected sellers. eBay has no say in the matter. Rich
I don't believe that CYA is the reason that eBay will send out 1099-Ks to individual sellers. It is the law, so eBay must send out those Forms to affected sellers. eBay has no say in the matter.
That's how I read it. The payments companies are required to send the 1099-k to all payees. It doesn't distinguish if the payee is an individual or a business.
It seems like the INTENT of the law is to apply it to only businesses since they typically sell items at a profit, so there is tax due. For an oindividual, exactly how much margin or income is there when an individual receives $601 for items sold? The tax due is miniscual and is dwarfed by the amount of events where the paperwork would show no taxes owed at all.
Sounds like the Recovery Act of 2021 was hastily written to where the words do not mirror the intent. I would expect it to get corrected at some point. Lets hope some time this year.
- Douglas
DoughlessThe payments companies are required to send the 1099-k to all payees. It doesn't distinguish if the payee is an individual or a business.
The company filling out the 1099-K has to fill box 2, the four-digit Merchant Category Code saying what kind of business is getting the 1099. MCCs are only assigned to retail / service companies.
This is from Turbotax' website under "small business taxes":
IRS Form 1099-K came into existence as part of the 2008 Housing Assistance Tax Act—even though it has nothing to do with housing. This form endeavors to ensure that all online retailers are reporting sales for tax purposes. It requires credit card companies, such as MasterCard and Visa, and third-party processors, such as PayPal and Amazon, to report the payment transactions they process on behalf of retailers. Therefore, if you accept credit card payments online, you may end up with a 1099-K at the end of the year that summarizes all of your sales transactions with each processor.
Most retailers who accept online credit card payments from customers will receive a 1099-K if its annual processing activity has met the following guidelines:
https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/small-business-taxes/what-online-business-owners-should-know-about-irs-form-1099-k/L2tODOz3r
That link in the above reply is for Tax Year 2021. "In limited instances: If the sales volume is over $600 per year" is a reference to a few states whose state law covered sales volume under $600 in 2021.
In 2022, eBay is required by the IRS to issue a Form 1099-K for all sellers who receive $600 or more in sales.
https://www.ebay.com/sellercenter/payments-and-fees/2022-changes-to-ebay-and-your-1099-k
We'll have to see I guess. It may be Ebay doesn't completely understand this change yet. It is a bit fuzzy.
But a couple of things to remember:
1. The IRS can't create or change tax law. As far as I know, what is considered a taxable sale and what isn't hasn't changed. Normally, as I understand it, if you buy something retail, pay appropriate sales tax or excise tax etc., and later sell what you bought, it's not a taxable sale. The problem is when you buy something wholesale (as a retailer, paying no sales tax) and then sell it for more than you paid for it and don't collect sales tax or report it as income.
2. The 1099-K is a business form, not an individual form. From everything I can see, the IRS says it's issued by third party payers to retailers who receive payments over a certain amount during the year through that payer. What's changing is the IRS is using their regulatory power to reduce the amount required for a 1099-K to be issued.
3. Whether or not you get a 1099 doesn't determine whether income is taxable. If you have a bank account and the bank pays you interest, that's taxable income on your 1040. The bank isn't required to send you (and the IRS) a 1099-INT showing how much they paid you until it hits a certain level (I think $400). But interest income is taxable whether it's more than $400 or less than $400. Similarly, the treshhold changing for 1099-Ks to be sent out doesn't change whether the income from the sale is taxable or not.
There is no confusion about what has been asserted. Nothing about tax law has changed. The elimination of paper and coin and switch to digitial payments means that previously uncollected taxes will now start to be collected. The IRS made the reporting threshold at $600 to require the digital payments services middlemen to help collect the taxes owed. No more stuffing dollar bills in a shoebox.
Feel free to check Etsy and Venmo's site info. They also understand the new law to say that ANYONE who receives more than $600 in payments...by law...will receive a 1099-k. Its up to the recipient to figure out if they owe taxes on the 1099-k amount (which will include proceeds that are subject to tax or not subject to tax)
Apparently, the law does not require payment services companies to figure out of the payee is an individual or a business. Both can owe taxes anyway.
Apparently, the IRS is assuming that if you receive sale proceeds more than $600 in any one year you are not having a garage sale of household items being sold for cents on the dollar, they are assuming you have a business even if you are not designating it as a business. So everyone over the threshold gets the business form 1099-k
All of them would like to see the threshold raised.
Doughless ANYONE who receives more than $600 in payments...by law...will receive a 1099-k. Its up to the recipient to figure out if they owe taxes on the 1099-k amount
ANYONE who receives more than $600 in payments...by law...will receive a 1099-k. Its up to the recipient to figure out if they owe taxes on the 1099-k amount
The chances are extraordinarily high that there will not be any taxes due from these sales since the vast majority of such sales, almost always used items, were made at a loss. The rare exception may be an auction where two determined bidders will pay any cost to win the auction, for whatever the reason.
Not an audit, but a letter from the IRS requesting the tax due on unreported income. These 1099s from eBay, PayPal, etc will trigger their computers. They have to be acknowledged somewhere on your return ... on the 1040 or one of your schedules. When I list them on my return, I will write "nontaxable proceeds from online garage sale" (an IRS term), and then enter a zero in the column ... excluding the amount from my taxable income.
DoughlessApparently, the law does not require payment services companies to figure out of the payee is an individual or a business.
That may be the real issue here - payment companies don't have the resources to figure out who is a business and who isn't, so will just send the 1099-K to everyone and let them figure it out. Remember the 1099-K is a business tax form.
DoughlessNothing about tax law has changed.
Exactly. A transaction that was taxable in the past is still taxable. If it wasn't, it still isn't. Getting a 1099 doesn't make it taxable; not getting one doesn't make it not taxable. Many people get 1099s for income (like Social Security) that ends up not being taxable on their 1040.
Profit or loss only is a factor for businesses. If you bought something retail, it's yours to give away or sell as you wish. It's not the same as a business that buys and sells to make money.
wjstix A transaction that was taxable in the past is still taxable. If it wasn't, it still isn't. Getting a 1099 doesn't make it taxable; not getting one doesn't make it not taxable.
A transaction that was taxable in the past is still taxable. If it wasn't, it still isn't. Getting a 1099 doesn't make it taxable; not getting one doesn't make it not taxable.
wjstixProfit or loss only is a factor for businesses. If you bought something retail, it's yours to give away or sell as you wish. It's not the same as a business that buys and sells to make money.
wjstixThat may be the real issue here - payment companies don't have the resources to figure out who is a business and who isn't, so will just send the 1099-K to everyone and let them figure it out. Remember the 1099-K is a business tax form.
You set up an ebay account as either an individual or a business, so they do have a way of knowing. I think the issue is that the Recovery Act does NOT distinguish between who gets the 1099-k. Payments companys are required to send it to anyone, even individuals. That's the issue. The Act should say that only businesses that receive $600 or more should get the 1099-k.
wjstixProfit or loss only is a factor for businesses. If you bought something retail, it's yours to give away or sell as you wish. It's not the same as a business that buys and sells to make money
But if you sell it for more than you paid...it is still subject to tax. For an individual, this is called a capital gain. Sell a stock for more than you paid several years ago, you owe tax. Sell a brass model train for more than you paid 3 decades ago, you owe tax. Always have, so nothing has changed (except now if you use ebay or Venmo, etc, the IRS knows you sold something. ).
So even if you are an individual and should not get the 1099-K, you still owe tax on the profit/gain (proceeds in excess of cost), so a regular 1099 is probably warranted anyway.
In the end, anything normally sold for more than it costs is subject to tax, whether its profit for a business or a gain for an individual. It always has been subjected to tax. What kind of forms and what kind of tax it is starts to get in the weeds.
IMO, the easiest thing to do is simply raise the threshold from $600 to about $3,000 per year.
FWIW, for 2022 the capital gains tax rate for single filers with a taxable income under $40,400 (or married filing joint under $80,800) is 0%. (Above that it's 15% up to $400-800K.)