Proposed IRS Reporting Requirements Become Law

More than $20K means you get reported

[sun818]

Under the legislation, PayPal will be required to report to the IRS the total payment volume received by PayPal customers in the U.S. who:

1. receive more than $20,000 in payment volume in a single year; and
2. receive more than 200 payments in a single year.

This legislation applies to all payment providers including PayPal and takes effect in 2011, so the first reports will go to the IRS in January 2012. Our goal when the legislation takes effect is to make it easy for PayPal merchants who fall under the provision to report their taxable incomes.

Full story here: [thepaypalblog.com...]

[LifeinAsia]

We also educated lawmakers about the many PayPal customers who receive money from others for reasons not related to operating a business.

Oh, you mean like money laundering? :)

[HugeNerd]

Our goal when the legislation takes effect is to make it easy for PayPal merchants who fall under the provision to report their taxable incomes.

Translation: "We want to collect more money with fewer employees doing less work. Long live the tax man!"

I've always heard that the IRS is the one truly functional branch of the government. Guess it's true.

Oh, you mean like money laundering? :)

Maybe some of us simply enjoy using PayPal so much we want them to take transaction fees simply...because *shrugs shoulders*. Heh. Sounds like a grand new way for the attorney general to file raquetering charges.

[vincevincevince]

I guess if you have a non-US paypal account but maintain a US$ balance you can get past this?

[sun818]

Any branch of government that collects from the people is very efficient. IRS prefers paper checks because it is faster than an ACH. ACH takes 3 days, while postal mail takes 2 day (1 day to receive, 1 day to clear). If you want benefits from the government, it take 6 months or longer just to get a ruling.

$20,000 USD seems like a reasonable annual amount since the poverty level for an individual is slightly under that value.

There's probably not as much money laundering going on since eBay bought Paypal. During the pre-eBay days, Paypal was involved some shady areas such as online gambling, adult entertainment, etc. The good ole days! ;)

[Lord Majestic]

I guess if you have a non-US paypal account but maintain a US$ balance you can get past this?

In EU there is already in effect much lower limit - around 1700 GBP I think.