PayPal (et al) and New IRS Regulations

[peregrinus]

I pulled this off NBC news and edited it for brevity. I know this is not legislation but rather regulation, but I am posting it here as it may be an aggregate to this thread.

Jan. 6, 2022
Venmo, PayPal and Zelle must report $600+ in yearly transactions to IRS

As of Jan. 1, mobile payment apps like Venmo, PayPal, Zelle and Cash App are required to report commercial transactions totaling more than $600 per year to the Internal Revenue Service.
The change to the tax code was signed into law as part of the American Rescue Plan Act, passed in March (2021).
Previously, these mobile payment apps only had to tell the tax authorities when a person had over 200 commercial transactions per year that exceeded $20,000 in total value, the IRS said.
Starting Jan. 1, the IRS said, if a person accrues more than $600 annually in commercial payments on an app like Venmo, then Venmo “must file and furnish a Form 1099-K” for them — reporting on all the commercial income they collected through the app.
The tax-reporting change only applies to charges for commercial goods or services, not personal charges to friends and family, like splitting a dinner bill.
In an explanatory document on the new tax changes, the IRS said these changes also apply to people who sell items on internet auction sites like eBay and people who "have a holiday craft business" so long as they accept credit card payments through these apps.

 

[ofafeather]

Thanks for sharing.

 

[captainsousie]

Sadly, we knew it was coming. It doesn't make it suck any less though.

 

[spicy_boiii]

Let's make everyone guilty of criminal "structuring."

-Politicians with their great ideas

 

[lukasstrifeson]

... are required to report commercial transactions totaling more than $600 per year to the Internal Revenue Service.
...

Lucky for us forum traders, we can still glide by with the F&F but our day is coming soon I bet.

 

[anotherbob]

this reminds me of how poor people are more likely to get audited because rich people can hire lawyers to help them out.

 

[sablebrush52]

this reminds me of how poor people are more likely to get audited because rich people can hire lawyers to help them out.

If you're wealthy enough you own an entire personal law practice to handle getting out of paying taxes.

 

[captainsousie]

If you're wealthy enough you own an entire personal law practice to handle getting out of paying taxes.

#lifegoals (joking...mostly)

 

[Casual]

If you’re serious about trading Esoterica you should be incorporated in the Bahamas.

Personally I have my cellar in the City of London to avoid capital gains. It’s a bit of a pain to get a jar out.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I have always reported paypal income. The problem is having to go through and separate personal from business, which gets sticky, and I try to avoid it by not using it for personal, but…
PP won’t let me have two accts, so…. the year end sticky situation continues.

 

[condorlover1]

I am waiting for them to tax tobacco trades. Example, I send my good friend Jeb who lives in Washington a Plug of Condor and he sends me a tin of SG Broken Flake No:7. What is the net revenue effect of this transaction and who has gained? No doubt the IRS will soon have a calculator for this type of activity and a matching tax bill!

 

[weezell]

It's only gonna get worse from here to...?

 

[Simmerdown☕️]

Damn, no more fun? Good thing I’ve all my pipes & tobacco to tide me over. ️

 

[shanez]

How is this surprising to anyone?

FYI, the IRS requires drug dealers to report their income from illegal dealings, corrupt politicians report income from bribes, and thieves report income from stolen goods (unless the goods were returned in the same tax year).

And that yard sale you had a little while ago? Don't get me started.

 

[SoddenJack]

Forget to report that money from selling some of you old dildos on eBay and the IRS is coming for you, but insider trading is still perfectly legal for members of Congress.

 

[georged]

Snick... snick... snick...

The constrictor snake method is fantastically effective.

You don't have to fight to squeeze your prey breathless, just take up the slack every time it breathes out.

Snick...

Snick...

Since the Dawn of Man individuals have appeared in the population who are relentlessly driven to achieve large scale power and control over others. Since that can't be accomplished alone, their approach to obtaining help has always been to appeal to one of the two basic types of humans: 1) Objectivists who have a Darwinian view of Man's place in the world and think the exploitation of lower ability individuals by those with higher ability is natural; and 2) Feelings-based decision makers who think Man's intelligence should be able to create a society where an equal outcome for all is assured regardless of ability.

It was the well that never ran dry: Virtually everyone felt strongly one way or the other; virtually everyone thought the opposite view was flatly wrong; and the dispute could never be settled.

In recent times the first type have been referred to as Capitalists, and the second type as Socialists.

Because the perfect society imagined by each group runs counter to human nature, however---the first because it is devoid of empathy and compassion, and the second because it requires rules regarding "correct" thought and behavior---its implementation demands ruthlessness.

The key to successful ruthlessness is not overt brutality, though. It is cleverness. To control people behind the scenes while appearing benevolent to the masses.

Throughout history, regardless of where on the "right/left" spectrum they fell, from medieval kings and the Industrial Revolution's robber barons at one end, to the 20th century's Soviet Union and North Korea at the other, those in charge used information to become strong, establish themselves, and remain in control.

Spies, secret police, the rewarding of informers, torture, and so forth. All have been used since pre-history. It's simply how humans behave.

It is no longer necessary for those who seek power to appeal to one side or the other, however. No need to have the support and help of an ideologically-driven group of followers to collect information and fight for that Better World they believe in, and thereby put you in charge. Today, aspiring rulers can go straight to the endgame.

Controlling people with fear and coercion is simply a matter of having access to electronic information.

In 2022 it is entirely possible to know with complete accuracy what a given individual ate for breakfast, how much he spent for it, where it was purchased, the bank where the funds were kept, how much is left in his refrigerator, when it will spoil, how many hours he spent at work, where he stopped on the way there, where he stopped on the way back, how fast he drove, how much he paid for the car, how many accident claims it has been involved in, whether or not traffic laws were broken, the brand of soap he showered with before going to work, who his friends are, who he has communicated with, his political preferences, his political affiliations, his state of physical health, his hobbies, the music he prefers, and on and on and on... The deeper one dives the more connections can be found and inferences that can be made and investigated, effectively without limit, endlessly branching like the Mandelbrot set.

And the pool of stockpiled information grows both wider and deeper every day. Literally every second of every day.

The remarkable part is that most of the information was not extracted by force or supplied in response to an overt request. Most of the time, either knowingly or unknowingly---via the "terms of service" user agreement---it was given freely by the individual himself. Often eagerly. (Mother Nature made short term benefit a powerful motivator.)

As the founder of Facebook famously said in 2003:

Zuck: Yeah so if you ever need info about anyone at Harvard
Zuck: Just ask
Zuck: I have over 4,000 emails, pictures, addresses, SSNs
[Redacted Friend's Name]: What? How'd you manage that one?
Zuck: People just submitted it.
Zuck: I don't know why.
Zuck: They "trust me"
Zuck: Dumb fucks

In short, the masses the aspiring rulers want to control are indirectly demanding to BE controlled. It's an act of simultaneous acquiescence and bestowal. No invading armies necessary, no shots fired. There is no longer any need to inspire and recruit follower-armies from the Left/Right idiology well that never runs dry.

In fact, those who are relentlessly driven to achieve large scale power and control over others never did care about a particular vision of society. All that was just a recruiting tool. A way to gather crowds who would chant their name.

All they ever cared about, and all they ever will care about, is being in charge.

When the social-score/credit model of society is fully implemented, voicing awareness or concern about any of this---never mind criticizing it---will be suppressed by whatever means necessary, until one day the very idea that something's badly wrong will be impossible to conceptualize, never mind articulate.

 

[sablebrush52]

Snick... snick... snick...

The constrictor snake method is fantastically effective.

You don't have to fight to squeeze your prey breathless, just take up the slack every time it breathes out.

Snick...

Snick...

Since the Dawn of Man individuals have appeared in the population who are relentlessly driven to achieve large scale power and control over others. Since that can't be accomplished alone, their approach to obtaining help has always been to appeal to one of the two basic types of humans: 1) Objectivists who have a Darwinian view of Man's place in the world and think the exploitation of lower ability individuals by those with higher ability is natural; and 2) Feelings-based decision makers who think Man's intelligence should be able to create a society where an equal outcome for all is assured regardless of ability.

It was the well that never ran dry: Virtually everyone felt strongly one way or the other; virtually everyone thought the opposite view was flatly wrong; and the dispute could never be settled.

In recent times the first type have been referred to as Capitalists, and the second type as Socialists.

Because the perfect society imagined by each group runs counter to human nature, however---the first because it is devoid of empathy and compassion, and the second because it requires rules regarding "correct" thought and behavior---its implementation demands ruthlessness.

The key to successful ruthlessness is not overt brutality, though. It is cleverness. To control people behind the scenes while appearing benevolent to the masses.

Throughout history, regardless of where on the "right/left" spectrum they fell, from medieval kings and the Industrial Revolution's robber barons at one end, to the 20th century's Soviet Union and North Korea at the other, those in charge used information to become strong, establish themselves, and remain in control.

Spies, secret police, the rewarding of informers, torture, and so forth. All have been used since pre-history. It's simply how humans behave.

It is no longer necessary for those who seek power to appeal to one side or the other, however. No need to have the support and help of an ideologically-driven group of followers to collect information and fight for that Better World they believe in, and thereby put you in charge. Today, aspiring rulers can go straight to the endgame.

Controlling people with fear and coercion is simply a matter of having access to electronic information.

In 2022 it is entirely possible to know with complete accuracy what a given individual ate for breakfast, how much he spent for it, where it was purchased, the bank where the funds were kept, how much is left in his refrigerator, when it will spoil, how many hours he spent at work, where he stopped on the way there, where he stopped on the way back, how fast he drove, how much he paid for the car, how many accident claims it has been involved in, whether or not traffic laws were broken, the brand of soap he showered with before going to work, who his friends are, who he has communicated with, his political preferences, his political affiliations, his state of physical health, his hobbies, the music he prefers, and on and on and on... The deeper one dives the more connections can be found and inferences that can be made and investigated, effectively without limit, endlessly branching like the Mandelbrot set.

And the pool of stockpiled information grows both wider and deeper every day. Literally every second of every day.

The remarkable part is that most of the information was not extracted by force or supplied in response to an overt request. Most of the time, either knowingly or unknowingly---via the "terms of service" user agreement---it was given freely by the individual himself. Often eagerly. (Mother Nature made short term benefit a powerful motivator.)

As the founder of Facebook famously said in 2003:

Zuck: Yeah so if you ever need info about anyone at Harvard
Zuck: Just ask
Zuck: I have over 4,000 emails, pictures, addresses, SSNs
[Redacted Friend's Name]: What? How'd you manage that one?
Zuck: People just submitted it.
Zuck: I don't know why.
Zuck: They "trust me"
Zuck: Dumb fucks

In short, the masses the aspiring rulers want to control are indirectly demanding to BE controlled. It's an act of simultaneous acquiescence and bestowal. No invading armies necessary, no shots fired. There is no longer any need to inspire and recruit follower-armies from the Left/Right idiology well that never runs dry.

In fact, those who are relentlessly driven to achieve large scale power and control over others never did care about a particular vision of society. All that was just a recruiting tool. A way to gather crowds who would chant their name.

All they ever cared about, and all they ever will care about, is being in charge.

When the social-score/credit model of society is fully implemented, voicing awareness or concern about any of this---never mind criticizing it---will be suppressed by whatever means necessary, until one day the very idea that something's badly wrong will be impossible to conceptualize, never mind articulate.

And then you die.
Just thought I'd add a cheerful note.

 

[sablebrush52]

Forget to report that money from selling some of you old dildos on eBay and the IRS is coming for you, but insider trading is still perfectly legal for members of Congress.

Actually it's no longer legal, but try and completely close the holes. This fits neatly into my universal theory of human interaction - People are loathe to give up an unearned advantage.

 

[olkofri]

 

[Servant King]

Paypal backwards is Lapyap.