AIRBNB Illegally sending out 1099-k forms for the 2021 Tax YEAR!!!

[Mike2552]

AIRBNB Illegally sending out 1099-k forms for the 2021 Tax YEAR!!!

I have NOT met the threshold to be sent a 1099 for 2021 (200 bookings AND 20K in revenue), yet I was sent one ANYWAY!

Calls five days in a row have yielded zero answers on how this monumental screw-up could possibly occur.  The phone reps tells me this is such a big problem, the department which handles such things cannot even respond.    Guess that's what happens when you Illegally cause people to suddenly incur massive tax liabilities because of YOUR screw up!

[Emilia42]

@Mike2552 Fair enough

[Lorna170]

@Mike2552   It is NOT 200 bookings.  It is 200 transactions.

[Susan1342]

I received one for 40K... I was extremely concerned!

[Kia272]

@Mike2552  I truly think you are misunderstanding the situation. AirBnB is a third-party service. Because they are handling money and then issuing it to you, they are required to issue a 1099 to you. Yes, prior to 2022 it was not a 1099-K, it would have been a 1099-Misc or in 2021, a 1099-NEC (not sure which one). Regardless, they issued funds to you and they have to show that, or they will be taxed on all the money THEY took in. 

Paypal and Venmo are required to do that as well for businesses that receive funds via those services. 

Regardless, you received income and this is how the IRS tries to keep track of that. 

It is NOT illegal! 

If you have an accountant, it might be worth a conversation to help you understand the situation. 

The prevailing sentiment in the responses you have received is that nobody understands your problem with this. If you made the money, you have to pay taxes on it, so why is the piece of paper, or the name of the piece of paper, such a big issue? 

This also might have to do with the state you live in. This is from the AirBnB website:

Hosts in states with lower reporting thresholds 

Several U.S. states have separate filing thresholds much lower than the Federal (IRS) threshold of $20,000 and 200 transactions. If you are a resident of a state which has a lower reporting threshold, a Form 1099-K will be issued to you and filed with the state in accordance with your state’s reporting requirements. Your state residency is determined by the address you provided on your Form W-9.

The following states currently have lower reporting thresholds (list subject to change): California, District of Columbia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, Vermont, and Virginia.

[Sarah977]

@Mike2552  As far as I'm aware, it isn't illegal for anyone to send you anything, aside from death threats and anthrax. 

If you don't think it pertains to you, throw it in the trash. As others have said, if you aren't trying to cheat on your taxes, why would it matter? And if your earnings are such that you don't owe taxes, why is it a problem? 

[Patti120]

@Patti120 - Airbnb overstated the income I actually received  on the 1099k by almost $7100.00 for 2021.  The incorrect 1099k when it was received, showed it was a already a corrected 1099k, however it is still incorrect. I do not wish to pay income tax on income I did not get. Copies of my bank statements showing the actual deposits made by Airbnb to me were given to Host support. In addition,  a hard copy was sent by Fedex  to the Accounting Manager, Business Tax Office and the CFO for Airbnb. In addition to the incorrect 1099k, the Airbnb Earnings Summary doesn't agree with the  incorrect 1099k or the the income I received.  None of the documentation adds up.  My situation has been brought to the attention of  the Airbnb accounting department and CFO. They are aware there is a problem, I hope they can get it solved soon. 

It would be helpful if Airbnb would have an easier way to notify and solve this type of problem more quickly since we are all getting ready to file our tax returns. A reachable dedicated person in Accounting would be great, but there is no way to reach the Business Tax Office at their corporate headquarters except through Host support  and/or direct mail. 

[Susan1342]

I received one for 40K I was extremely concerned!

[Kathy1143]

my posts keep getting deleated. Interesting

[Kathy1143]

What does the level # mean under our names?  Law states any income over $600 is taxable. You do and should have many write-off's. Last year and this year I have not received a 1099, past years I did. My gut is they are not paying the taxes they are collecting. Last year I earned $60k and they said because I did not have 200 or more individual stays I did not "qualify" really? I pay my taxes. This is fraudulent. They also didn't pay for my referral. Said the time expired and wouldn't tell me dates or how much time. I set up that hosts 5-unit home. Will be leaving after being a 6 year+ superhost. Not the same company after covid hit and they went public. Very disappointed in many areas.

[Kathy1143]

US persons who have earned over $20,000 and had 200+ transactions

The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requires US companies that process payments, including Airbnb, to report gross earnings for all US users who earn over $20,000 and have 200+ transactions in the calendar year. If you exceed both IRS thresholds in a calendar year, Airbnb will issue you a Form 1099-K.

Starting January 1, 2022, the IRS requires US companies to report gross earnings for all US users who earn over $600 in the calendar year. If you exceed the IRS threshold in a calendar year, Airbnb will issue you a Form 1099-K.

This is from website. Contradictory and confusing why both are posted??!!

[Sarah977]

@Kathy1143  You seem to be confusing the 2021 and 2022 regs. The $600 threshhold is for 2022.

Your pists aren't getting deleted. It's just a weird thing with this forum that sometimes, especially when writing a long post, it "times out" and disappears into cyberspace. Copy your posts before hitting "reply" so you can paste it back into a new message box if that happens.

The levels here don't really mean anything. They are just related to your activity here on the forum- how often you post, how many thumbs up you get. Just a social media thing, nothing to do with your hosting account, level of experience, etc.

[Siena2]

Hi Kathy,

I just got an education on this after numerous calls.

Turns out that just because you don't get a 1099 doesn't mean you're off the hook for the amount of money you made from Airbnb.  That money needs to be claimed on your income taxes.  Starting with this year, it seems that the IRS caught on, so now everybody will be getting 1099's if they made over $600.  We'll be getting them in January 2023.

Hope that helps.

--cc

[Allen136]

It’s not about evading taxes but more about consistent and accurate reporting. If Airbnb released tax guidelines in their help topics that says we wouldn’t receive a 1099 if under 200 transactions and $20,000, we rely on that information as accurate and plan our tax year accordingly like I did when I read that topic last year. I would have certainly done a lot of things different had I known they wouldn’t follow it. There was no indication they would go against their own information and no explanation either. How can you trust anything Airbnb publishes on their site if they can just arbitrarily decide to not follow it, leaving many hosts unprepared and no way of contacting the right people. Also, how can you trust anything Airbnb publishes or says in the future?

The IRS isn’t even that strict, that’s why the new law with lower reporting thresholds that was passed last year doesn’t apply until 2022. It’s to not surprise anyone and give ample time for people to transition and prepare. 

The same goes with the California Franchise Tax Board. The lower reporting thresholds started only for app-based drivers on Jan 1 2021 but for everyone else, the lower reporting thresholds do not begin until Jan 1 2022, so people have ample time to prepare. 

Airbnb jumped the gun here. Again, it’s not about evading taxes. I even called the IRS which says that receiving a 1099 when you should not have is considered an error and that includes receiving a 1099 when under reporting limits. They classify that as a “type 1 error” and directs the issuer (Airbnb) to correct it and issue corrected forms to us. 

Also, eBay/PayPal had the same issue where people were getting a 1099k for the 2021 tax year in error. They sent out an email immediately to everyone and fixed it within days. It’s very disappointing that Airbnb has been the complete opposite and totally unresponsive. It’s been a month since I brought this issue up.

[Allen136]

IRS Guidelines for Informational Returns 

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1099gi.pdf

see pg. 12. This is classified as “Error Type 1”

[Allen136]

I would assume a decently large publicly traded company like Airbnb would be electronically filing. In that case, the IRS refers users to pub. 1220

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p1220.pdf

Section 11, pg. 18 “One-transaction correction” again, in the case here, we are error “e” and lists the correction procedures.