01/21/2022
Venmo, PayPal & The IRS....
What you need to know:
People on social media have way over exaggerated the PayPal, Venmo, Cash app, Google pay, situation. The basics are that each of these companies are being required to have an option for a “payor” to select choosing personal or business. If your “business” transactions are over $600.00 you will receive a 1099-K as you would if you just had a regular credit card machine. Venmo is cheaper on transaction fees than a credit card machine so if as a “seller” you want to save some money instead of a credit card machine you should choose Venmo Business. In the past the threshold deciding whether you would get a 1099 or not was if you had 200 transactions or $20,000. The new threshold starting January 1st 2022 is $600.00.
As a business that pays contractors through one of these platforms, the IRS wants you to select the business option (not personal). When this happens the third party processor like Venmo or PayPal will send a 1099-K to the person receiving the money and the “payor” should NOT send out a 1099. If the business has been making payments, and marking them as “Personal” then the third party processor like Venmo or PayPal will not send out the 1099, and in this case the “payer” will be required to submit a 1099-NEC to be able to claim the money as a deduction on their taxes. 1099-NEC was first introduced in 2020 and accountants were told to stop sending “Non Employee Wadges” as a 1099-MISC, and start using the new form 1099-NEC. I am sure this was just the first step in this whole process being given to the public in small steps.
Just a side note, I did read on the Venmo website that if you receive a large dollar amount from the same person every month and it is marked personal the “receiver” will be asked to prove it is not business. They do not specify what a large amount is so be careful on this.
If your side hustle is small enough you are trying to stay away from getting a credit card processor Venmo is still a cheaper option, and you probably have more deductions in the long run, and you will not pay taxes on it anyway.
My advice is to quit spending all the time and effort trying to get around the new law for something that will hardly affect you at all.
If you have more questions feel free to contact me to discuss your personal situation.
-Hall Accounting & Insurance, PLLC