Tax / social services reporting limit drops from $20K to $600 on U.S.A ebay site

[chameleon54]

Just stumbled across this little gem. Tax / social services reporting limit drops from $20K to $600 on U.S.A ebay site starting this year. So if a U.S. ebay seller sells more than $600 in a year, they will need to report it to the U.S. internal revenue service ( equivalent to our ATO ) and also to their version of Centrelink.

With technology tracking our every move, I wonder how long it will be before we see similar moves in Australia to crack down on tax evasion and under reporting of eBay earnings regards social security payments ?

https://pages.ebay.com/seller-center/service-and-payments/2022-changes-to-ebay-and-your-1099-k.html 

[digital*ghost]

Reading the link, it implies that Americans have to pay tax on practically anything they sell for more than what they paid? I don't know too much about their tax system, though I know they are taxed on things we aren't (like lottery winnings). 

I'm referring to this bit in particular, from one of their FAQs ("Will I have to pay taxes if I receive a 1099-k?") :

"Only goods that are sold for a profit are considered taxable, so you won’t owe any taxes on something you sell for less than what you paid for it. For example, if you bought a bike for $1,000 last year, and then sold it on eBay today for $700, that $700 you made would generally not be subject to income tax."

Which implies if it sold for say $1200, that extra $200 would be taxable income? (Pretty sure it wouldn't be here, CGT seems to only apply if you paid more than $10k for the item? If someone else knows for sure, I'd be happy to have it clarified 😁 ). 

That could explain why our current threshold is $12k and theirs has been lowered so significantly, though I am certainly not confident enough to suggest it's even likely, and I believe eBay currently reports $10k+ anyway.