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What is a 1099-K and why is it important?
What is a 1099-K and why is it important?
Seanalee Greenough avatar
Written by Seanalee Greenough
Updated over a week ago

Form 1099-K is an IRS information return that reports the gross amount of all reportable payment transactions. The gross amount reported is a calculation of the total of all payment card charges* processed through Stripe for the year, including:

  • Stripe processing and conversion fees

  • Shipping fees

  • Taxes

  • Refunded charges

  • All adjustments

These additional fees, refunds, and adjustments are not deducted from the total charges when calculating the gross volume and reporting to the IRS. The dollar amount of each transaction is determined on the date of the transaction.

*Please note, this only includes credit card transactions and is not applicable to cash or debit ACH sales. Stripe calculates the gross amount reported on the 1099-K based on the data processed by Stripe.

If questions arise about how your amount was calculated, you can check out these articles from Stripe: Breakdown of transactions applied to 1099-K, Additional information to reconcile your 1099-K Form, and 1099-K forms issued by Stripe

If you need help understanding your 1099-K form, this article from the IRS will help explain it further: Understanding Your Form 1099-K

Why is this important?

The IRS imposes penalties on companies that do not gather the proper information from its customers required to file 1099-K forms. This includes ensuring that the connect account has the legal name, Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) associated with the legal name, address, etc. This information should be gathered during onboarding. If there

Penalties

IRS penalties ranging from $50 to $280 per form may apply for each instance where you:

  • Don’t file an information return with the IRS by the deadline

  • Don’t provide the recipient a statement by the deadline

  • Don’t report a Taxpayer ID (TIN)

  • Report an incorrect TIN

  • Report incorrect information

  • Don’t provide the recipient with all required information

  • Don’t e-file with the IRS when required to e-file

Larger penalties may be enforced where there is evidence of intentional disregard or neglect.

The information in your Stripe Connect Account, such as the legal name, TIN, and address must be up-to-date and agree to the IRS records.

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