New 2023 TPSO Tax Rules: Key Changes to eBay, Ticketmaster Sales
Oct 10, 2023
Understanding Tax Implications of Reselling on eBay, Ticketmaster, and Other Platforms
In an era where online third-party settlement organizations (TPSOs) such as eBay, Ticketmaster, and Venmo have become commonplace, it’s crucial to be aware of the evolving tax landscape. Traditionally, the net income from these transactions have been considered taxable income. Starting this year, the American Rescue Plan of 2021, will now also require TPSOs to file Form 1099-K with the IRS and provide a copy to the payee if sales on their platform exceed $600. This blog provides insights to the 2023 TPSO Tax Rules and how you may be impacted.
What information should be retained?
To start, you will want to keep track of any and all sales transactions completed using TPSOs. These can be used to confirm the accuracy of the 1099-K received. Additionally, any expenses related to the sale of the tickets or merchandise should be retained. This includes the receipt from the original purchase of a resell item, any fees associated with using third-party platforms, and any shipping or delivery fees.
Will my personal TPSO transactions be taxable?
Since many consumers use TPSOs for personal transactions such as gifts or bill-splitting among roommates, the 1099-K received from the TPSO may include business and personal transactions combined. By keeping a log of all resale transactions, the taxpayer can avoid being taxed on a personal transaction. If there are several transactions and the taxpayer finds it difficult to keep track of their transactions, they should consider creating two separate accounts with the TPSO: One for the business transactions and one for their personal transactions. This will help them track transactions and ensure there is no confusion when it comes to filing with the IRS. Additionally, using detailed descriptions attached to each transaction will help with determination of business or personal transactions. Personal transactions should not be included as taxable income, even if the amount reported on the Form 1040 does not match the 1099-K. Documentation to support the personal transactions should be retained for three years from date of file to surpass the statute of limitations.
What will be considered taxable income?
Reportable personal gain is considered taxable income and will include the resale price of all tickets or merchandise on the TPSO decreased by any applicable expenses related to the sale. Since these are considered sale of personal items, only gains are taxable income and personal item losses cannot be used to offset other income. In the case of a personal item loss, the transaction should still be reported to the IRS by reporting the amount received as other income and offsetting this amount under other adjustments as the basis in the personal item.
Planning for increased tax liability due to new 2023 TPSO Tax Rules.
To properly plan for taxes, you can set aside a specific percentage of each sale to ensure you have cash available to pay any applicable tax liability. If you expect to owe taxes, it is worth considering making quarterly estimated tax payments or increasing the amount withheld from a W-2, if applicable. This will help to ensure there isn’t a significant amount of tax due in April and mitigate any penalties related to underpayment of estimated tax.
For more information about these threshold changes, visit the IRS website.
Categories: Tax Compliance
IRS’s 2024 E-Filing Mandate: What You Need to Know
Oct 04, 2023
Earlier this year, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) finalized regulations mandating the electronic filing of the majority of tax and information returns in a strategic bid to curtail the influx of paper returns.
What has changed?
Starting January 1, 2024, companies filing 10 or more returns of any type per calendar year, must now submit these returns electronically instead of paper filing. This new regular significantly reduces the prior 250-return threshold.
Filers are now required to aggregate almost all information return types covered by the regulation to determine whether they meet the 10-return threshold. Below are just some of the forms impacted by the new requirement, most notably, Form W-2 and Form 1099:
- Corporate income tax returns
- Unrelated business income tax returns
- Withholding tax returns
- Certain information returns (W-2, 1099)
- Registration statements
- Disclosure statements
- Notifications
- Actuarial reports and certain excise tax returns
For a complete list of forms that must be aggregated, visit the IRS site.
Other noteworthy considerations:
- If a taxpayer is filing an amended return, the amended return must be filed using the same method as the original return.
- In limited circumstances, the IRS does not support e-filing. For example, the IRS does not support electronic filing of a final Form 941. Therefore, paper filings will be accepted if an employer is required to file a final Form 941.
- Partnerships with more than 100 partners at any time during the year must e-file.
- The IRS released a new, free e-file portal, Information Returns Intake System (IRIS), for the 1099 series of informational returns. Though available to any business of any size, IRIS may be especially helpful to any small business that currently sends their 1099 forms on paper to the IRS.
- Exemptions and waivers are available in limited situations. Exemptions will be allowed for members of certain religious communities that prohibit technology use.
- Failure to meet these new e-filing regulations could result in one or more penalties.
How do I know if I am impacted?
The aggregation rule combines all previously mentioned form types to determine if the filer meets the 10-return threshold. For example, the amount of W-2 forms will be combined with the number of 1099 forms a company is required to file. If that amount is 10 or more, then that company has to electronically file all of the forms.
Next steps
Any taxpayers currently filing paper returns should consult with their William Vaughan Company tax advisor to determine if the new 2024 e-filing mandate requirements apply to them based on the number of returns that they anticipate filing in 2024 for tax year 2023. More details about these changes can be found on the IRS website, here.
Categories: Tax Compliance
Leased Office Space Options In A Post-COVID Landscape
Jun 07, 2022
Most companies can agree one of biggest impacts the COVID-19 pandemic has had on their businesses is the shift from in-person to remote working, and it’s not going back to normal any time soon. However, one thing employers in all industries are struggling to agree on is how to use their leased office space with the majority of their talent working from home.
We’ve compiled information on the strategies some of the nation’s largest companies have taken to make the most of their leased office space, and how these strategies could effect their bottom line.
Airbnb has instituted a permanent, full-remote option for all employees.
On April 28th, Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky unveiled the company’s new “Live and Work Anywhere” policy to employees around the globe. This groundbreaking strategy allows anyone from the Airbnb team to “live and work in over 170 countries for up to 90 days a year in each location.”
According to the Chesky, “the best people live everywhere, not concentrated in one area. And by recruiting from a diverse set of communities, we will become a more diverse company.” However, this change came with one caveat; each employee must maintain a permanent address for tax and payroll purposes.
Google and Meta (Facebook) have invested in even more corporate office space.
As many companies begin to embrace hybrid, work-from-home arrangements for their employees, others have started aggressively purchasing the excess office space left in their wake. A recent CBRE report showed a 100% increase in commercial leasing activity year over year for the first quarter of 2022, as tech giants like Google and Facebook work to expand their already sprawling campuses.
Last September, Google announced its plan to purchase and develop a sprawling Manhattan property for $2.1 billion – the largest, single-building commercial-real-estate deal since the start of the pandemic. Six months later, Meta Platforms Inc. (formerly known as Facebook) made headlines with news of its plans to lease an additional 300,000 square feet of office space next to its existing location, giving the company almost an entire New York City building.
What strategy makes the most sense for your business?
Regardless of size or location, the strategies behind where businesses decide to base their workforce can be heavily impacted by a variety tax considerations. Legislation on tax withholding for remote workers in certain municipalities continues to change, as we saw in Ohio during the beginning of the pandemic. On the flip side, those that choose to expand into new office spaces may want to consider running a cost segregation study to ensure no tax benefits have been left on the table.
Regardless of which direction you decide to take with your office space, we recommend connecting with William Vaughan Company’s team of trusted advisors to discuss which strategy best suits your business’s workforce needs all while reducing your potential tax risk.
Categories: Tax Planning
Timely Estate Planning Strategies: Part Two
Oct 21, 2021
Low-Interest Rate Opportunities
An important component of personal financial and estate planning often includes transferring assets and future growth of those assets to younger generations or to charitable organizations while reducing current income taxes and future potential estate taxes. Once properly made, appreciation of such transfers and any future income generated thereon can be free of transfer taxes.
The current low-interest-rate environment provides an excellent opportunity to shift wealth to future generations. While we cannot predict the future, we can anticipate the writing on the wall. As noted in our previous post, Estate Planning Strategies Before Year-End: Part One, recent and proposed massive spending by the federal government will likely put pressure on rates. This coupled with various proposals to modify tax laws relating to gift and estate taxation, individuals should plan on implementing any such plans sooner rather than later.
Planning techniques benefitting from lower rates include the following:
1. Charitable Lead Annuity Trust (CLAT). This trust can be set up to provide annual distributions to charity for a specified number of years. Any growth in the value of the assets above the applicable federal interest rate passes to the non-charitable remainder beneficiaries (i.e. the taxpayer’s children) free of estate or gift tax at the termination of the trust.
2. Intra-Family Loans. It’s a good time to loan money to family members or trusts for members’ benefit. Interest can be charged at very low rates; to the extent the borrowers are able to leverage the funds to generate a return greater than the stated rate, wealth will be transferred without any transfer tax.
3. “Defective” Grantor Trusts. When a taxpayer (grantor) transfers assets to fund this trust, certain rights might be retained causing the trust to be “defective”. This may include the right to substitute other assets of equal value in future years. As a result, the annual income of the trust remains taxable to the grantor even though the income inures to the benefit of the beneficiaries. The effect of this is to reduce the grantor’s taxable estate by the amount of the income taxes paid annually. These trusts are often used to sell assets expected to grow in the future to the trust in exchange for a low-interest rate promissory note. The grantor does not recognize gain from the sale, and no income is recognized on the interest payments. The appreciation in the assets will be realized by the next generation without any transfer tax.
4. Charitable Remainder Trust. If a current income tax deduction is more important than saving transfer taxes, this trust may be implemented. The trust will make annual payments to its beneficiaries for a period of time. At the termination of the trust, the principal balance goes to the specified charity. This “remainder interest” is calculated at a present value to determine the current charitable contribution income tax deduction available to the donor. Lower interest rates translate to a larger remainder interest, and thus larger income tax deduction.
5. Grantor Retained Annuity Trust (GRAT). A grantor transfers assets to the trust and retains the right to receive specified payments from the trust for a specified number of years. At the end of the trust term, the accumulated principal of the trust passes to the specified donees, often the grantor’s children.
The annual payments can be structured so that the present value of the annual payments will equal the value of the property transferred to the trust. The trust is said to be “zeroed-out” because the donees’ remainder interest has no value for gift tax purposes, thus no gift tax exemption is used and no gift tax is due. To the extent, the increase in the value of the assets exceeds the annuity stream paid to the grantor, the assets remaining in the trust pass to the beneficiaries becoming a tax-free gift.
These are just some of the planning opportunities your William Vaughan advisor can discuss with you. We encourage you to take this important step now to avoid potentially detrimental changes which have been proposed in Washington. Early adoption and implementation have perhaps never been more important.
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Categories: Estate Planning, Tax Planning
SBA Announces Opening of Paycheck Protection Program Direct Forgiveness Portal
Aug 23, 2021
The SBA has published new guidance on PPP loan forgiveness on loans of $150,000 or less. A new portal has been established in which borrowers can request forgiveness directly w the agency instead of going through their lenders. The portal, launched in early August, is the latest attempt by the SBA to make the PPP loan forgiveness process easy and streamlined.
“The SBA’s new streamlined application portal will simplify forgiveness for millions of our smallest businesses — including many sole proprietors — who used funds from our Paycheck Protection Program loans to survive the pandemic,” said Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman. “The vast majority of businesses waiting for forgiveness have loans under $150,000. These entrepreneurs are busy running their businesses and are challenged by an overly complicated forgiveness process.
The SBA has also created a PPP customer service team that will answer questions and directly assist businesses with their loan forgiveness applications. This team can be reached at 877-552-2692, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. EST.
Click here to access the Paycheck Protection Program Direct Forgiveness Portal.
Categories: COVID-19