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I have several questions and will provide a bit of background to help.

I have 4 ebay accounts - all created after ebay suspended my other 3 almost 3 years ago. All of my current accounts are in the names of friends of mine. I sell items that range from $8 - $60 or so and sell probably with all 4 accounts 110 items a week. So, I am not doing BIG business or am I selling any illegal items that I could be suspended for.

On 2 of my accounts I do not sell the $20 per year so currently I do not have to supply any ss # or such. The other 2 of my accounts do. Interestingly enough, 1 account, I have received probably 8 emails regarding adding the tax id #, ss# or such and the other -- absolutely NOTHING! Now, I do pay taxes on my income and I can get EIN # in the other persons names on the accounts if I need to but I have a couple of questions that perhaps someone out there might be knowledgeable about:

#1): One of my friends has passed away since she gave me permission to use her account - and this is the paypal that has had NO email requests for EIN # yet but can I get an EIN # in the business name and make me the sole proprietor without paypal linking my name and ss to the EIN? In otherwords, does it make ANY difference whos name is on the EIN and paypal if it is all under a specific business name? I believe my paypal is under a business name as well.

#2) is there a way to tell whether or not you have reached a certain $ or payment amount on paypal?

If someone can help with any insite, I would appreciate it. The EBAY STEALTH book sure helped me out in getting me back going :) I do enough to survive these days and that is my main goal :) I am not out to make a ton of money or to scam anyone BUT ebay! They are so not nice and unreasonable.

#1 I would leave well enough alone and just continue to sell until push comes to shove, and just provide the EIN.

#2 Just go to your account on paypal to the dropdown menu under payments received for each month of the year, add them up, and you will have your GROSS payments into the account. 200 payments received that total over 20k and you reached your threshold.

You have to get the EIN in your real name. There is no way around it. Also as said above, get a tax accountant and attorney involved. YOu are a business now if you like it or not.

You will need to do a ton of work with these accounts so you will get the taxes right on them.

There is no way you will be able to have the time to figure out all those accounts and the Business mess that goes with them without professional help first. If you dont you will be in for a bigger mess than you want to deal with.

Thanks KingRay for all your wonderful knowledge. I've been reading over threads like this for a few weeks now. I too plan to pay all my taxes due, and I understand having multiple stealth accounts can be a headache come tax time. Best advise has already been mentioned, get an attorney & get a tax adviser.

First off, I don't believe you HAVE to open up a business entity for every stealth account you have. My tax adviser said that is unnecessary. One business is fine. You total up the sales from all accounts, and you pay your taxes accordingly.

Second, Profits in the first year does not = audit. Have a PROFESSIONAL do your taxes and you have nothing to worry about. Uncle sam doesn't care if you made money or lost money in your first year, just pay your taxes.

Finally, what everyone really cares about is HOW TO KEEP THE STEALTH ACCOUNTS "STEALTH" & STILL PAY UNCLE SAM. My adviser told me this is actually quite simple. You don't give your tax id to pp unless it is dire like FREESAILING is doing. Avoid it like the plague. Also, stay UNDER the threshold per account (200 sales 20K) and you will be fine.

i think it would be easier to turn a profit selling online vs. owning a brick and mortar business because with a brick and mortar business there are many many expenses to pay and you don't really know if your going to have enough customer to turn a profit..i agree with kingray regarding not being able to turn a profit for a few years...but with selling online, it might be different, you are able to see if an item will sell for a profit before purchasing in bulk to resale....you don't have the huge expenses that would come with an actual brick store, ie insurance, rent, employees, etc.

so it is definitely possible to turn a profit your first year selling online and in my opinion it should not raise any kind of red flag with the authorities.

Short of being an IRS employee, NO one knows what will trigger an audit. What is a fact is that if you are audited, IRS will demand all your bank account info. If you hide accounts/money and they find out, you will be in for tax evasion. Using someone's identity if they have passed is ID theft. They are not alive to prove they gave you permission. It is like listing a ⊗⊗⊗⊗ item on Ebay. You should have known better in the eyes of IRS.

IRS informed me that I should have an EIN number in case I want to start a business. I told the employee that I wasn't sure I was going to, but I was just getting information. The rep told me to go ahead and get an EIN number even if I don't use it. He said I could keep it for life and use it when/if I start my own business. He assured me if I do not end up using it, it will NOT trigger an audit.

You guys took it too literally, Just warning you of what could trigger an audit.

You can get an EIN yes but to get the EIN you have to provide the business name.

as for the profit thing, Its not a secret when a company shows large profits the 1st year that they are looked at differently. Ididnt say you would be guaranteed an audit on any posts. I say that if you go to any sites that talk about audits, usually 1st year profits that look like 5yr profits are one of the things that do it.

What I meant about the EIN's in multiples, you need to have a different business entity for each or there is no reason to need more than one EIN.

In order to get more than one to use for paypal accounts there would have to be different business names. Thus different business entity for each.

If you are just talking to your brother in law about taxes then go to someone that specializes in online businesses, They will help you instead of harm you.

a regular HR block tax return moron will not be your best bet. I know many losers that do this at tax time because they cant get jobs any other time of year.

I post what I know on here. If you ask someone else and they say this or that then try it. I am just posting on here to help you guys out. Its not doing anything for me to spend hours on here posting what I know about EIN and online business tax strategies.

Well some of it is actually. I am trying to make sure you guys/gals dont throw EIN's around and screw it up for us that use them correctly.

Once paypal decides that people are abusing them then its over. Like everything else that works fora while until people that have no idea what they are doing mess it up for the rest of us.

Actually they gave me the EIN already and I do not have a business or name. They told me I can let them know when I do.

Maybe a state issue where its required in some states then. Thats the only thing it can be. when I go online it requires that field to go any further in the application. Also requires start date of business and it has to match the start date when going to a business account on PP.

All of the other topics discusses are still issues though.

Hmm, I thought it would be the same for everyone. It was an 800 number. I think I better check with them again just to be sure. I hope I didn't upset you. I come on here for the same reason you do. I have been were you are. You do a lot to help people. I'm not the expert, but I do have a lot of info. If we could help even one person beat Ebay, then what we do it worth it =)

Oh, I actually spoke with a person who assigned me the number. I spoke with him for over an hour. I never had to fill out an application. He was very helpful and I kind of explained my situation of having an "online" business using a business name. I told him I wasn't sure whether I would do this for sure and her said it didn't matter. I could just get it and keep it for reference. He said the EIN would be a permanent number, that I wouldn't need another. I can give you all the details if you PM me. I do not want Ebay or Paypal to find out what can be done to get back online with the EIN.