on 10-5-05 11:57 AM, Bruce Johnson at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > However, more than likely eBay is required to turn over all recorded > transactions to the IRS to combat tax fraud and money laundering. > Payment facilitators and auction houses are all required to do that.
Hmmmmm. I'm not sure that eBay is considered an "auction house." Whenever a suit from eBay is interviewed, they always refer to it as a "trading platform." I think they might actually be correct in saying that. Auction houses have responsibilites that eBay can't hope to meet simply because they never actually handle any of what is sold through their site. As far as eBay being a payment facilitator, I wonder if PayPal is still treated as a separate corporate entity, or as a part of eBay? I would hope that the IRS has better things to do than sniff around eBay in the hopes of uncovering tax fraud and money laundering, though you're probably right there. It's just that most of the "financial transaction" safeguards that are in place don't seem to work. Here's an article if you're interested in just how intrusive (and ineffective) a lot of it is: http://www.reason.com/0311/fe.jb.show.shtml I thought the part concerning "hawala" was interesting. Apparently, large amounts of money are moved without actually leaving a given country and with almost no paperwork involved; wow. Best, James Fraser -- G-List is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- We have Apple Refurbished Monitors in stock! | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> G-List list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[email protected]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-list%40mail.maclaunch.com/> iPod Accessories for Less at 1-800-iPOD.COM Fast Delivery, Low Price, Good Deal www.1800ipod.com
