IRS Wants Its Cut of Online Sales

A new tax law requiring the gross amount of payments by credit credit and other payment processing systems and third-party network transactions will be required to be reported annually to merchants and the IRS by way of a new IRS form, the 1099-K. This reporting requirement will start with 2011 tax returns for taypayers who sell more than $20,000 worth of goods and have more than 200 e-transactions. The headline for the Washington Post story captures the regulatory intent in a nutshell: IRS Wants a Cut of Online Sales on eBay, Craigslist. [JH]