IRS may target online sellers
Gee, yesterday it was the Postal Service threatening us, and now the IRS. Pass the Rolaids, please.
Will Amazon and eBay be providing data on all our sales to the Taxman? Looks like some people want to head down that road:
One remedy the IRS is considering is third-party reporting, or having an outside source, such as an online auction site, report information to the IRS.
Representatives from eBay stressed that maintaining their clients' privacy was of the utmost importance, but that they would turn it over to if the government request were accompanied by a subpoena.
It will be interesting to see where the cutoff line is: Who is the hobby seller and who's running a "business."
I guess it would be a pretty straightforward process for Amazon to report our sales made with Amazon Payments. But eBay -- what a nightmare that would be.
posted by Steve Weber at 8/24/2006
5 Comments:
Well I guess the past couple months was "the calm before the storm". Everybody wants to jack up prices or sue the poor booksellers. I guess all these announcements from the past couple weeks will seperate the hobby sellers from the real businesses.
When I told my tax accountant last year that I wanted to do the right thing and declare my "hobby" as a business, he just laughed himself silly. He really discouraged me from doing that. Too much effort for such little earnings, and who's ever to know? Right! I am sorry, but a written record is a written record. And Amazon has all these records...
Believe me, the IRS WILL get what they want and soon. And I think it's time to move on to another tax accountant.
I fully agree with you, Anonymous. Any tax accountant who would encourage clients to break the law is probably headed to jail himself sooner or later. Time to pull out the Yellow Pages!
My lawyer's motto is "If you don't cheat, you won't get caught." I report all my income and pay the state nuisance taxes.
Totally not worried about this one, 100% of my income is reported. If you do it right, you won't have a problem.
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