How Form 1099-K Affects Your E-Commerce Business

Professional sellers who exceed $20,000 in sales or 200 transactions in one calendar year are familiar with Form 1099-K. Many people who aren’t too familiar with Form 1099-K are those that sell as a hobby or only have a small number of transactions in a calendar year. In 2023, many sellers may be surprised to see a new form from their transaction platform called Form 1099-K.

If you sell online and are unsure of what form 1099-K is, It’s time for you to find out before it gets too difficult to track your online transactions. Luckily, it won’t adjust too much of your workflow. All you may need to do is ramp up your recordkeeping and, for many, this may not even cause a change.

Key Takeaways

• Form 1099-K calculates your gross sales of all reportable transactions that take place through a card payment terminal or third-party network, such as PayPal, this means any transaction that takes place on a card or third-party network is stored in a database.
• The previous year’s thresholds didn’t exempt sellers from reporting their revenue to the IRS. the sellers who haven’t received Form 1099-K in the past should have reported their earnings to the IRS.
• Since the IRS shares taxpayer information with federal, state, and local governments, make sure all of your reported income is 100% accurate.

What Is Form 1099-K?

According to the IRS, Form 1099-K is for “Payment Card and Third-Party Network Transactions” [used] to improve voluntary tax compliance.” Sellers receive Form 1099-K by January 31 if they hit the sales threshold.

Form 1099-K calculates your gross sales of all reportable transactions that take place through a card payment terminal or third-party network, such as PayPal. This means any transaction that takes place on a card or third-party network is stored in a database. Once the year closes your sales are combined and Form 1099-K is generated. All sellers want to keep track of cash payments as well since these aren’t taken into account.

If you sell on eBay, Mercari, Amazon, Shopify, or Etsy or utilize services like Venmo, you may have been eligible to receive Form 1099-K. With the recent changes to the tax law, all sellers on these platforms are going to receive Form 1099-K. Since this form is for federal use, you don’t have to submit this on your local tax return. You only need to file it with the IRS.

If you’re just starting to sell and or are looking for a new platform, look at our list of the Best E-Commerce Platforms in 2023.

Note: Your state government may have access to the Form 1099-K database with the IRS. They may use this to audit sellers to ensure that proper sales tax is being paid to the state government.

Who Receives Form 1099-K

Many filers may be surprised in 2023 to receive Form 1099-K. That’s due to a recent change in the tax laws, which were signed on March 11, 2021, as part of the American Rescue Plan, which lowered the threshold for receiving Form 1099-K from various selling platforms.

According to the IRS’s website, sellers that meet the following will be sent Form 1099-K:

• For returns for calendar years prior to 2022:
  • Gross payments that exceed $20,000, and
  • More than 200 such transactions
• For returns for calendar years after 2021:
  • Gross payments that exceed $600, and
  • Any number of transactions

Previously, many “hobby” or “side-gig” sellers wouldn’t exceed the 200-item or $20,000 limit. The new law has drastically changed this making any seller eligible for reporting taxes. This is an attempt to help close the $1 trillion in taxes that go uncollected every year.

It’s important to note that previous year thresholds didn’t exempt sellers from reporting their revenue to the IRS. Sellers who haven’t received Form 1099-K in the past should have reported their earnings to the IRS. Despite this, many sellers in the previous years neglected to report earnings to the IRS.

How To Report Form 1099-K in Your Online Business Taxes

Form 1099-K isn’t a form that’s submitted to the IRS with your traditional tax return. It’s an informative document that informs you of the previous year’s transactions.

Form 1099-K should be utilized to “double-check” your income. From there, you report your earnings on Schedule C if in a sole proprietorship or as a part of your company’s gross revenue and income if in a partnership or corporation.

While you won’t need to submit your 1099-K to the IRS, you pay taxes on the amount shown in gross sales. It’s important to implement the following best practices to make sure you aren’t overpaying in taxes as gross sales don’t account for some deductions.

To verify that your gross revenue is accurate, review the following factors.

1. Check Sales and Receipts

The gross revenue may be underreported or overreported on Form 1099-K. If you share a business with a spouse under the same PayPal account, you may want to separate your transactions by opening a new account.

You also want to add up your receipts to check that the listed amount is the amount sold. It’s important to verify that the gross sales add up with your total sales before the cost of goods sold (COGS).

If your total doesn’t add up with your gross sales on Form 1099-K, review all of the information and ensure that your documentation is 100% accurate. If there’s still a discrepancy, contact the Payment Settlement Entity (PSE) listed on Form 1099-K. Keep all of your interactions with the PSE on file with your corrected Form 1099-K.

2. Review Internal Accounting Systems

If you have an internal accounting system set up with QuickBooks (or even a Google Sheet if this is a hobby), you also want to double-check your sales on this platform. This step is a repeat of step 1 but may help you uncover some errors that were missed.

If you find errors on your internal account system, review when those errors occurred. Did your system fail for a day? Forgot to add a sales transaction into your spreadsheet? Now is the time to add any missed transaction to get your gross sales to match.

Include your sales tax on this step, as sales tax is included in gross sales. There’s also great sales tax compliance software to consider if you sell in large volumes.

3. Add in Cash Transactions

Many businesses may think cash is ideal since they believe that it can be hidden from the IRS. Despite this belief, those who are caught by the IRS are guilty of fraud. So, if you deposit large sums of cash into a bank account, or do large cash deals, report all of your earnings to the IRS as the chances are it already knows about it.

Cash transactions aren’t included in your Form 1099-K. This may mean gross sales are more than what has been reported to the IRS. If this is the case, review your accounting system carefully.

You don’t want to overpay if an error has occurred. However, when accounting for cash transactions, you may find yourself having higher gross sales than reported.

4. Review Your Deductions

The most important step in your Form 1099-K review process is your deductions. Since Form 1099-K reports gross sales, it doesn’t take into account any of your business deductions. Gather your information to prepare a simple profit and loss (P&L) statement.

Deduct Your COGS

Be sure to deduct your COGS. Your items cost you something to buy, so deduct this from your gross sales. If you paid $20 for an item that sold for $30, you only made a $10 profit. The $10 profit is all that is taxable.

Consider Your Losses

Also, consider a loss on an item when selling any of the items that you purchase or find laying around the house. For instance, if you sell a video game for $40 and you paid $60, there is no profit made.

In most instances, this won’t be considered taxable income but is reported as gross sales on your Form 1099-K. It’s important to keep track of your receipts as you may not have income if you sold all items at a loss.

Account For Returns

Returns aren’t considered on Form 1099-K. If a buyer sent back an item to you, this won’t be deducted on the form you receive in the mail. This must be accounted for manually and subtracted from your gross sales.

Moreover, if a refund occurs without the buyer sending back the item, remove this amount from Form 1099-K as well. Return shipping would also need to be deducted if paid by the seller.

Deduct Shipping Expenses

Shipping can also appear on Form 1099-K if your shipping payment isn’t taken out by your e-commerce platform. For instance, if you charge $3.99 for shipping on eBay, the payment from your seller is considered “gross sales,” which includes shipping.

Deduct this from your 1099-K. If you’re purchasing shipping for $3.75, 24 cents is considered income and isn’t deductible. Only deduct the amount spent on shipping.

Account For Cashback

If you own a storefront and provide cashback, account for this as it is added to Form 1099-K. Cashback isn’t taxable by the IRS but appears as a “payment” to your business. Review all transactions and deduct all cashback amounts from your Form 1099-K balance.

Don’t Forget Sales Tax

Lastly, sales tax is also included on Form 1099-K as a part of your gross sales. Keep track of the sales tax collected by your business. That way, you can ensure proper payment to the federal and state government.

If you don’t account for sales tax, you might be overpaying for your taxes owed. You also want to verify that the sales tax is set up depending on your state. Check with your e-commerce platform so that you don’t owe your state taxes at the end of the year.

Cautions About Using Form 1099-K

There are two items to be cautious about when reviewing Form 1099-K. The first is a letter from the IRS for any discrepancies. The second is if a state decides to investigate 1099-Ks to review state tax accuracy.

Ensure You Do Not Underreport

If you underreport what Form 1099-K states as your gross sales, you may receive an investigation letter from the IRS. This letter asks for proof of your deductions, requiring receipts of purchases, returns, cashback payments, and so on.

This isn’t a huge concern as long as you can provide the proper documentation to the IRS. Report your 1099-K as accurately as possible and keep all of your relevant information in a safe and accessible place. Consider uploading your receipts online as well.

Since the IRS shares taxpayer information with federal, state, and local governments, make sure all of your reported income is 100% accurate. Failing to report the correct gross sales may cause an investigation at the state level for failure to pay sales tax.

If you underreport your gross sales to the state, you may end up owing the state sales tax that should have been collected.

What To Do Next

Sellers, business owners, and dropshippers shouldn’t panic and stop selling but should start becoming prepared. Many of you’re starting to hear about the Form 1099-K changes that went into effect in 2021, but there’s no need to worry.

Be smart about your bookkeeping, keep receipts, track returns, and your COGS. As a business owner, you should have established systems for this in place. If you sell as a hobby, create a simple spreadsheet on your favorite platform to track your sales.

Set aside some of your profit for tax purposes and consider consulting a tax professional to learn more about what you owe, your tax rate, and options. While these changes aren’t the most ideal for many smaller shops, larger e-commerce sellers have had to experience 1099-Ks for years.

With some adjustments, you should be able to adapt fast. You may also experience less competition due to the higher barrier of entry to online selling.

Note: The information in this article shouldn’t be taken as financial or tax advice. Consult with a financial planner or tax professional for further assistance.