On Thu, 03 Jan 2013 10:09:11 -0800 "Richard C. Steffens" <[email protected]> dijo:
>On 01/03/2013 10:01 AM, John Jason Jordan wrote: >> I was trying to conceive of a way that a new user can get one or two >> items free, but then has to start reciprocating by posting his or her >> own things in order to continue getting stuff. At the same time I was >> trying to avoid cash. Once there is cash on a site it becomes a >> target for fraud, and the site operator personally becomes a target >> for government agencies, who have a talent for smelling a revenue >> source. >Maybe if your site stays small it won't attract the attention of the >IRS. But they already intend to have their fingers in the pot via the >concept of bartering. See: > >http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc420.html I have long known that the IRS considers bartering for gain the same as earned income. But the site owner (me) is not doing the bartering. Exchanges are user to user transactions. An individual user might be subject to taxes, but I am not in the loop. However, in looking at the regulations I may be required to file 1099-B forms to all the users, with copies to the IRS. There is an exemption for noncommercial exchanges, but the language is not as clear as it could be: "The term [barter exchange] does not include arrangements that provide solely for the informal exchange of similar services on a noncommercial basis." I note that eBay and Craigslist do not send out 1099 forms to their sellers, and many of their sellers are seriously commercial. Also, since the site credits cannot be converted to cash, there is no cash equivalence to report. The language of the regulations refers only to barter exchange sites where the site holds unexchanged "dollars." If I had to file 1099 forms for the users, all the forms would show zero figures. It was good of you to bring this up. I think I am not going to worry about it. However, it does make me think that I had better make sure that the word "non'commercial" appears everywhere on the site. _______________________________________________ PLUG mailing list [email protected] http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
