What You Need to Know About the IRS’s New Reporting Requirements for Merchants

I remember back in October of 2009, a friend of mine who had recently opened a business of his own, asked me; "How does the IRS know how much I process in credit card transactions?" My short answer was; "They don't." The long answer is, that the IRS doesn't keep track of credit card transactions the way they do, say independent contractor income (1099), but that's all about to change.

While most of us were prepping for the holidays, the IRS was quietly passing a new regulation that will affect all merchants and their service providers across the board.

As part of section 6050W of the Housing Assistance Tax Act of 2008, gross transaction amounts of payment card and third-party network transactions must be filed with the IRS by banks and other merchant service providers.

Under new section 6050W, any payment settlement entity making payment to a participating payee in settlement of reportable payment transactions must make a return for each calendar year to be filed with the Service, and furnish a statement to the participating payee, setting forth the gross amount of such reportable payment transactions, as well as the name, address, and taxpayer identification number (TIN) of the participating payees.

The system will work almost exactly like 1099 reporting for independent contractors, as a matter of fact, the form that the IRS has drafted up for reporting is called form 1099-K.

What does this mean to you? It means that at the end of each year, you'll be sent a 1099-K by your merchant account provider that shows the gross amount of transactions that you processed for that year. You'll have to make sure that on your Schedule-C, you're reporting the same amount. Keep in mind that I said GROSS amount. The IRS does not take into consideration the NET amount, after chargebacks, refunds and fees. You'll have to deduct those yourself.

You can find more detailed information at the Electran.org website, and a easier to read (layman's) version of the requirements on About.com.