Mark your calendars: U.S. business 2018 sales tax filing dates.

Aug 21 2018 | Contributing writer, TaxJar

Chances are when you think of "tax filing", you think of April. But did you know that January is in fact the busiest sales tax filing month of the year?
In January, even the smallest hobby sellers have a sales tax return due. That's why we call January the "Sales Tax Perfect Storm". To complicate matters, states want to hear from sellers on different days of the month. One state might want to hear from you on the 20th, another on the 31st, and yet another on the 15th.

Sales tax is governed at the state level, and retailers, including online sellers, are required to file sales tax to their nexus state or states either monthly, quarterly, or annually. In general, the higher your sales volume in a state, the more often that state wants you to file a sales tax return.

To help you file your sales tax return on time, we've put together a list of state sales tax due dates. Be sure to file your sales tax returns on time by finding your state and filing frequency.

For more on sales tax, check out TaxJar’s handy Getting Started Guides. 

TaxJar is a service that makes sales tax reporting and filing simple for more than 10,000 online sellers. All it takes is a single click to link up TaxJar to your PayPal account. Try a 30-day-free trial of TaxJar today and eliminate sales tax filing headaches from your life. Visit the user guarantee for terms and conditions. 
 

The contents of this site are provided for informational purposes only. You should always obtain independent, professional accounting, financial, and legal advice before making any business decision.

Frequently asked questions.

PayPal will track the payment volume of your account(s) to check whether your payment volume exceeds both of these levels in a calendar year:

  • $20,000 USD in gross payment volume from sales of goods or services in a single calendar year
  • 200 payments for goods or services in the same year*

You may be asked to provide your tax identification number (TIN), such as a Social Security Number (SSN) or Employer Identification Number (EIN), to your existing account(s), if you don’t already have one on file. If your TIN fails verification, you will need to fill out an equivalent tax Form W-9.

If you cross the IRS thresholds in a given calendar year, PayPal will send Form 1099-K to you and the IRS for that year early in the following year.

You can access your 1099-K from your PayPal account by January 31st annually. Only those customers that meet the 1099-K eligibility requirements will see the 1099-K available for download in their account.

If there are any discrepancies between what is reported by the IRS for your tax identification number and name and what PayPal has on file and used for Form 1099-K, you may receive an IRS B-Notice.

You can find more information and FAQs by visiting the PayPal tax website.

*Except in Vermont and Massachusetts where the threshold is lower irrespective of the number of transactions.

All US payment processors, including PayPal, are required by the Internal Revenue Service(IRS) to provide information to the IRS about certain customers who receive payments for the sale of goods or services through PayPal. Form 1099-K and B-Notice are tax forms which are applicable to holders of accounts both within and outside the United States since it pertains to income reporting for US persons/entities.

FATCA affects account holders that are outside the United States, and it requires PayPal to collect tax documents or certifications from account holders stating whether they are US persons. This includes, but is not limited to, business entities, and some individuals that open accounts outside the United States.

Tax Form 1099-K Tips:
  • If you feel there is a discrepancy in your tax Form 1099-K, please review your reconciliation report and provide us with the transaction ID(s) in question and the justification for why the transaction is being disputed. Click Contact at the bottom of any page to call or email us.
You can also view these additional 1099-K Help Center articles:
B-Notice Tips:
  • If there are any discrepancies with your tax identification number and legal name that was used by PayPal for tax Form 1099-K reporting filing with the IRS, you may receive an IRS B-Notice
  • The B-Notice mailing will provide you with all of the additional information we need from you.
    • If you received a 1st B-Notice (which happens the first year that the IRS identifies a mismatch in tax identification number/legal name), log in to your PayPal account and follow the Alert Notification to provide the requested information. You may need to download and fill out the IRS tax Form W-9 for PayPal to review.
    • If you received a 2nd B-Notice (which happens the second consecutive year that the IRS identifies a mismatch in tax identification number/legal name), you must provide either a copy of your Social Security Card (individuals or sole proprietors) or US IRS tax Letter 147C (entities). Log in to your PayPal account, and go to the Resolution Center to upload the document.
  • The IRS does not have an online solution for requesting a tax Letter 147 C; the IRS will mail or fax the letter to you. To contact the IRS for a Letter 147C, you should call the IRS's Business and Specialty Tax line at 1-800-829-4933 between 7am and 7pm, local time, Monday through Friday. Requesting a faxed copy may be the quickest manner to get a copy of the tax Letter 147C. You can also view our tax information page for more information.
  • Fully complete and sign the relevant form and upload it by logging into your PayPal account and following the Notification prompt.
  • Why did I receive an IRS B-Notice?

FATCA Tips:
  • Only impactful for account holders outside of the United States.
  • PayPal must collect documentation such as certification of non-US status and either a tax Form W-9 for US persons or entities that are subject to US tax, or a tax Form W8BEN/W8BEN-E for non-US persons or entities that are not subject to US tax withholding and reporting.
  • Most business users who need to provide the requested information will be able to do so by logging into their PayPal account and following the notification prompts.
You can also view these additional FATCA Help Center articles:You can find more tax related information on the PayPal IRS tax website.
You can pull sales reports from any device; the same steps generally apply. To pull a sales report on an iPhone, log into the PayPal Here app (make sure you have the latest version) and go to Sales Activity (under Settings). Touching Sales Reports will show the current day’s sales summary. Swipe the screen or use the arrows to view previous days’ summaries. Touch the Daily label to change the view to weekly, monthly, or yearly — or to select a custom date. Sales reports can be emailed or exported as a CSV file.
 

Here's how you can access your tax Form 1099-K from PayPal from within your PayPal account.

  1. Click Reports.
  2. Click Tax Documents.
  3. The following page will display any available documentation, including a Form 1099-K.


Note:

  • If a Form 1099-K was issued for your account, it will be listed here and available to download or print.
  • If a Form 1099-K is not listed and you still feel like you should have one, please contact PayPal for assistance.
  • A Reconciliation Report is included with your 1099-K that will list all of the transactions included in your total gross sales for goods and services.


Here are some additional resources that may be helpful when completing your taxes:
Download your daily, monthy or yearly business report
Download your Transaction History

Transaction Finder

To calculate your quarterly PayPal shipping charges, you can use the Transaction Finder. Here's how:

  1. Click Reports.
  2. Click Transaction Finder towards the bottom of the screen, listed under “History and search.”
  3. Choose your date range (no greater than 90 days at a time).
  4. Click the dropdown for “Transaction Type” and choose Shipping.
  5. Click Search.
  6. Choose the type of file you want to download (PDF or Excel), then click Download.

This will create a quarterly report of PayPal USPS and UPS shipping charges, listing a total dollar amount at the bottom. You may repeat this process for each quarter and add up the figures to obtain your full year’s shipping charges.

To locate your eBay shipping charges, complete the following steps:

  1. Go to "More" and select Reports.
  2. Click Transaction Finder towards the bottom of the screen, listed under “History and search.”
  3. Under Report Search Criteria type “eBay” into the “Search Keywords” field.
  4. Choose your date range (no greater than 90 days at a time).
  5. Click the dropdown for “Transaction Type” and choose Billing Agreement Transactions (this will exclude eBay Fees payments).
  6. Click Search.
  7. Choose the type of file you want to download (PDF or Excel), then click Download.

This will create a quarterly report of eBay shipping charges, listing a total dollar amount at the bottom. You may repeat this process for each quarter then add up the figures to obtain your full year’s shipping charges.

Click here for more tax information and FAQs.