PayPal Wants Tax ID Number
 

Just got an email from PayPal (looks legit) that they want my tax ID number. They need it to send tax statements to me and the IRS if my PayPal transactions exceed $20,000 and 200 in number in one year.

Well, I have never made anywhere near $20,000 from ebay sales in a year! I don't have a tax ID number because I don't have a business. Do I just ignore them?

I doubt if it is legit. I have gotten some very convincing and official looking emails supposedly from Paypal but I don't have an account. Probably pfishing.

Sounds like a fake to me, too.

Your tax ID number is your Social Security number. That would be a real prize for a scammer. IIRC, Congress didn't change the rules requiring online entities like eBay/Paypal to start reporting to the IRS.

Does anyone here know for sure? For now I would say it's bogus.

Here's the email I received:


We're asking for your tax ID number due to new IRS rules. Your tax ID
number is one of these:

- Your Social Security number
- Your Individual Tax Identification Number
- Your Employer Identification Number

We'll use your tax ID number to send tax Form 1099-K to you and the IRS
when the payments you receive exceed both of these milestones in a calendar
year:

- $20,000 in gross payment volume for goods or services
- 200 payments for goods or services

We want to help you continue to sell with PayPal and to avoid any
interruption to your account. It's easy — here's how:

1. Log in to your PayPal account.
2. A message will appear asking you to update your information.
3. Click Provide Now.

If you have multiple PayPal accounts, repeat these steps for each account.

We appreciate your help in complying with these IRS rules. For more
information, see our FAQs on the IRS reporting requirements:
www.paypal.com/irs

Sincerely,
PayPal

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Help Center:
https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/helpweb?cmd=_help
Security Center:
https://www.paypal.com/us/security

This email was sent by an automated system, so if you reply, nobody will
see it. To get in touch with us, log in to your account and click "Contact
Us" at the bottom of any page.

Copyright © 2011 PayPal, Inc. All rights reserved. PayPal is located at
2211 N. First St., San Jose, CA 95131.

PayPal Email ID PP1572

I would forward to Paypal's customer service to see if it legit. I'm not sure if sending it to spoof@paypal would get you a response on its legitimacy, but you could try there. I never respond to their emails by clicking the links in them. Instead I go my account using my bookmarked link and see if they have the same notification there.

Oh man....I think that is legit. That info is listed on paypal's web site. And since the Email tells her to not reply to the message but to go to paypal's web site and log in, I believe it's for real.

Just went to the PayPal site. It's legit. There is this bar at the top of the page:


You have not provided a tax ID number. Please update your profile: provide your tax ID number


I guess anyone else with a PayPal account can expect to receive the same email!

Go to this section of Paypal; it deals with security. One thing I learned from Paypal years ago was NEVER click on the link supplied in an e-mail if you're trying to get to the real Paypal, I guess hackers/thieves are very good at making mirror sites.

https://cms.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/ma...identity_theft

Forward it to spoof@paypal.com and they will verify the info whether it is true or not.

Paypal says they will address you by your full name, did they do that?

If I get that email, it will be deleted. Thanks for the alert.

Peg

I cannot find anything remotely like that page on the "real" Paypal site.
It is a mirror site..DO NOT GIVE THEM ANY INFO!!!
Forward that e-mail to spoof@paypal.com before you do anything else!

Direct quote from Paypal Security and Protection page...

"Should I trust that email?

An email from PayPal will: Address you by your first and last names or your business name

An email from PayPal won't: Ask you for sensitive information like your password, bank account, or credit card"

Everyone please look at post #8. This is from the PayPal site. This is a legit request. I had heard about the $20,000 rule so I guess they are going to enforce it now.

I would forward it to the Feds, IRS, and ebay. Or, just call any of the above and verify it.

Do not click the link in the e-mail...go to www.paypal.com and login and forward the message to spoof@paypal.com

Please READ post #8. I went directly to the PayPal site. I did not go through the link on this email. This request is coming from PayPal! Here is the what the official PayPal website states at the top of the home page:


You have not provided a tax ID number. Please update your profile: provide your tax ID number


This is not a spoof email.

This is legit. IRS mandated new reporting effective 2012 for online sales.
http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abu/...03/abu0258/s03

Forgot to add. If you don't have a tax ID your social security number is what you use.
Go to PayPal website and then click on profile and then tax id number under account info.
You can choose what you want this reported as meaning tax ID or social security #.

You DO NOT have to give them your social security number! You can get a Federal Tax ID number from the IRS by going to www.irs.gov and filling out a form SS-4. It is free of charge and takes but 10 or 15 minutes if you are filling it out as an individual. Of course this does trigger the IRS that you are operating a "business" but that's it.

If you are not filing as a business on taxes you will not get an Federal Id number.
http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/...=97872,00.html

http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/...=98350,00.html

But if you are selling something and making a profit, you do have a business and should be reporting your income even without anyone issuing you a 1099, right? You can apply for one as a sole proprietor, but depending on how you answer the questions (do you have employees, what is your business entity structure etc), the IRS may or may not expect you to file a separate business tax return.

They are becoming more and more strict with the tax reporting and 1099-Misc requirements. It's just a way for them to try and track down more people who they can collect taxes from.

Side info..... starting in 2012 you must have a Tax I.D. number to claim farm use when buying items at the feed store or hardware store.

NO WAY would I give out this info because of an email!!!! They had better have it in writing by snail mail and they had better know my full name and business name. We have a tax professional take care of the forms we need. Anyone who gives out this info without being 100% sure its legit is crazy.

I have been running a business 12 years. Originally I filed as a business under my social security number. I am sole proprietor.
Once I hired employees is when I needed the tax ID number.
You can file schedule C [business] on taxes with out a fed ID number.
Personally I would not do a Fed ID number unless you have to.
If you don't want to give Pay Pal your SS # then my guess is you would need to close the account.
This is NOT pay pal mandating this but the IRS.
I also had to update other info [not Pay Pal] for my credit card transactions due to the new reporting starting in 2012.

The IRS knows they are loosing a lot of tax revenue with online sales and they are putting a stop to it. It was bound to happen.
Personally I report my income so it is not a huge issue. If you are doing what you are suppose to as reporting income it really is not a big deal.
Also if it is under 200 transactions a year or $20,000.00 the reporting is not going to happen.

UGH. :mad:

I just went to the PayPal website - (NOT by clicking a link) and I don't see anything about that.
They have a "Contact us" link on their site -- use it and ask.

If is is legit than like ebay, its time to find a different way to buy/sell. I would NEVER give out my SS number online even to paypal -- too many horror stories about poor security.

You need to log into your account to see the request.

I've been told in the eBay Stealth forum that PayPal asks for that info sometimes just to verify the account. It may be legit. I would go by the link info in the message.

The worst that can happen if you don't respond is the account might be temporary suspended, which can be corrected quickly by providing the info they request.