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[JustinD]

Originally Posted by BobC

Though as I pointed out in my previous post that the lowered reporting threshold will increase the workload of the IRS, I'm assuming you meant this as a type of joking/satirical statement or comment, and certainly not as a type of veiled political comment, right?

And just to be very clear and honest, and so that no one mistakenly takes what you said as even remotely serious, the IRS has been severely underfunded and staffed for quite a few years now, and actually more like decades. The recently passed bill to increase their funding during the remainder of this decade is primarily to finally address their severely lacking technical capabilities and systems, and at least try to get them into the 21st century, allow them to be able to replace and train the tens of thousands of IRS employees set to retire in the coming years, and yes, hire some additional people (not the ridiculously and politically proposed 87,000 figure) so the IRS can finally do the work they're supposed to do on behalf of the taxpaying public, like actually answering the phone when someone calls with a question (and the person taking the call actually being able to answer the question).

It was satire Bob.

In my honest feelings, I am no big fan fan of the IRS in any way but do not portray them as jack booted thugs. They’re doing a job created by those far above their pay grade. The last few administrations are completely at fault for tossing out bloated programs funded by future earnings of squeezing the average joe’s pocketbook. In the exact same way that your local PD would rather be protecting neighborhoods and preventing crime, but sadly sit in a median or speed trap per local political machinations to pad local coffers with ticketing income per counsel requests. It’s a sad cycle, but the low man on the totem pole catching the flak should be the one getting a pat on the back.

This is also my opinion as the grandson of a 40 year IRS agent who worked his ass off and took several missed shots in his career. The ground level folks deserve respect.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by JustinD

It was satire Bob.

In my honest feelings, I am no big fan fan of the IRS in any way but do not portray them as jack booted thugs. They’re doing a job created by those far above their pay grade. The last few administrations are completely at fault for tossing out bloated programs funded by future earnings of squeezing the average joe’s pocketbook. In the exact same way that your local PD would rather be protecting neighborhoods and preventing crime, but sadly sit in a median or speed trap per local political machinations to pad local coffers with ticketing income per counsel requests. It’s a sad cycle, but the low man on the totem pole catching the flak should be the one getting a pat on the back.

This is also my opinion as the grandson of a 40 year IRS agent who worked his ass off and took several missed shots in his career. The ground level folks deserve respect.

Whew, thank you for that. Without one of those smiley faces or other more obvious statements included when someone posts, at times it can be difficult to tell if someone is making a joke or actually being serious. I assumed you were joking but threw my comments out there in case someone accidently took what you are saying the wrong way. Forgive me for being overly cautious.

And I've worked with the IRS and its employees for well over 40 years and know what they are and go through, and having nothing but respect for them. People like your grandfather often get poorly portrayed and are undeservedly given a bad rap in movies, TV, and the media. And the politicizing of the IRS and its employees by any political party is a disgusting disgrace. The IRS and its employees are simply doing a job they were hired to do. They do not create and enact these tax laws they are then required to enforce. Meanwhile, the politicians that do create and pass these tax laws are often just downright stupid and have absolutely no real idea of what they are doing and the issues and difficulties that arise from what they just dump on the IRS to then handle.

In going more on point to the OP's original comment, I'd stated elsewhere on this forum way back not long after this new law reducing the reporting threshold was passed that it would have a serious impact on business and sellers through a platform like Ebay's. Didn't go far or garner much interest till much later on when the mainstream media started picking up on the change that had been enacted months earlier, and people finally began to learn more about it. As for Ebay just now sending out an email urging its users to complain about this lowered reporting threshold to politicians, they've known about this change since back in early 2020 when the legislation was first passed. What the hell have they been waiting for???

And also for the record, and I've said this before, the lowering of the reporting threshold from $20,000 and 200 transactions per year to just $600 in activity per year was not solely an attempt to go after people not reporting their Ebay sales activity on their tax returns. The main reason for the change to the lowered $600 reporting threshold is so that it aligns with the previously established threshold for reporting non-employee compensation paid to independent contractors that was supposed to be reported to the IRS on a different type of 1099 forms (1099-MISC or 1099-NEC). It was determined that many more people/independent contractors were starting to get their "under the table" pay through third-party payment platforms like Paypal or Venmo, which the IRS can't readily track or examine. So the government decided to lower the threshold on activity reporting on such platforms to coincide with the already existing $600 reporting threshold for non-employee compensation. Unfortunately, these platforms were never set up to distinguish between payments for goods (sales) and services (non-employee compensation), so when the reporting threshold change took effect on 1/1/22, it automatically included the change to reporting Ebay sales through these third-party payment platforms as well.

And this is also why most auction houses do not accept payments through such third-party payment platforms either. So they don't have sales reported to them on 1099 forms, and then in turn be forced to report the sales of their consigners to the IRS as well. This lowered reporting threshold is therefore one partial reason for auction houses to be getting more consignments. It also helps explain the fewer and fewer items people may be seeing on Ebay, and possibly why alternative sites (PWCC, Goldin, Facebook groups, live shows, etc.) are still around and apparently doing well, and possibly better and with increased activity and even more volume in the future.

In this instance, one thing/area that does have me concerned though is with regard to some of the bigger Ebay consignment sellers, such as Probstein or Greg Morris. They already had sales way over the previous reporting thresholds for years now, and they've been getting 1099s reporting Ebay sales all along. To my knowledge though, they don't turn around and then issue 1099 forms to all their consignors for what is technically their consigner's Ebay sales. The consignees are really only providing a service to all their consignors, and the sales being reported to the likes of Probstein and Greg Morris on those 1099's they then get from Paypal are being received by them as "nominees", on behalf of everyone that consigned items to them to sell. And technically then, under existing tax laws, consignees like Probstein and Greg Morris should be issuing what are commonly known as "nominee 1099 forms" to all the people they sold items, and collected the sales money, on behalf of. I've never consigned anything to any Ebay seller, so am only assuming outfits like Probstein and Greg Morris do not ask their consignors for their tax info and then send them 1099's after the year ends. And with the previously much higher tax reporting thresholds in place, they were likely not being subjected to any IRS scrutiny for potentially failed nominee tax reporting. With the now lowered reporting threshold though, these consignees may start to get a little more IRS scrutiny, and may be forced in the future to start reporting consigner sales to the IRS.

So for now, someone looking to continue selling their cards on Ebay and not have to worry about those sales getting reported to the IRS, may still be able to do that consigning their cards to be sold by someone else for them.............at least for now.