ANY Payment Processor (and merchants like Amazon that collect money and disburse it to you ARE considered payment processors) MUST report your gross sales to the IRS if your account(s) with them take in more than $20,000 AND 200 transactions.
So, YES, Google checkout will report if your gross sales meet that threshhold. So will ANY merchant account provider, PayPal, Amazon, CCNow, Moneybookers, etc.
There is NO payment processor that has a magical exemption from this requirement.
But there are many people who are misunderstanding this. You will only owe the taxes on your PROFITS from selling, NOT on your gross sales. So, if PayPal reports that they paid you a total of $30,000 and your profits were $5,000 from those sales, you would only owe the taxes on the $5,000 in profits, NOT on the $30,000 gross.
This is also NOT a new tax. Taxes have ALWAYS been due on profits made from selling, whether online or offline. The only thing that is changing is that the IRS is now requiring the reporting.
As long as you are paying your taxes, there is nothing to be afraid of.
|