Do you have tax clients who run small businesses or decided to sell their household items on e-bay this past year? Or perhaps you are a CPA who accepts credit card payments from your clients? If so, you may have already received a notice from the IRS or should be aware of the latest updates on the IRS push for information matching with Form 1099-Ks (Payment Card and Third Party Network Transactions). Some AICPA members have received 1099-K mismatch notices assessing thousands of dollars in penalties.

Less than a year ago, the AICPA raised the topic in a blog post about a major initiative that requires merchant card companies to report gross receipts on Form 1099-K. At the time, the IRS was carrying out a compliance program that sent notices to small business taxpayers to match their sales information with merchant provided Form 1099-K reports. The program was used to ensure business taxpayers were reporting adequate income from their credit card receipts. A driving force behind this decision was the growing US tax gap, as IRS data indicated that a major source for the gap was related to underreporting of business income on individual tax returns.

As a result, many taxpayers, especially self-employed Schedule C filers, are beginning to receive notices related to Form 1099-Ks. In these notices, the IRS is providing basic instructions such as “Read the notice thoroughly and complete any Read More