No more PayPal/Venmo For Donations

[S Allen]

I am not certain anyone was seeing this so I am posting again. I realize times are tough and understand if there is not much in the way of donation or none at all. If you do find the site and the forum useful any amount has been much appreciated. As of April 6th 2023, I will no longer have a Paypal or Venmo account. I cancelled everyone's recurring payments. Since Paypal considers me a business they want to report every thing I take into the IRS as income. I do not make a profit running this website. Donations help but much of the costs come out of my pocket. I do not need big brother breathing down my back for simply trying to get information to other like minded roadster owners. Very strange times we are living in. If you still want to support me you can send me a check, money order or cash. Just PM for an address. If this becomes too expensive for me to keep going I may have to rethink the whole endeavor. I want to thank all of those whom have donated in the past. I cannot tell you how much it has helped keep this website up and running. Thanks.

Steve

[AC77]

Just saw the cancellation notice for PayPal. It really stinks that PayPal is reporting you like you’re making money.

[S Allen]

Yes, Adam-it does suck. I did my taxes this year and had a 1099-k partership. I had no clue what it was until I realized PayPal was reporting me as a business making money. What a joke that is. They were counting every nickel. The 1099-K was all over the map due to the mulitple donations. Not worth the hassle.

Steve

[spl310]

It's not PayPal's fault. Tax changes by the current administration are driving this. They claim it is to catch millionaires not paying their fair share...

[S Allen]

If you say something PayPal does not agree with they can fine you thousands of dollars. That is on PayPal. I did not setup a PayPal business account. They made me a business which I am not. I will not even get into the circus we have for a goverment right now.

S

[Datsuns4Me]

I will not even get into the circus we have for a goverment right now.

like the last administration wasn't a circus

[23yrRebuild]

Steve, I share yours, and everyone's else's sentiment on this issue. Can you give us a ball park idea of your annual expenses to run this site ? Maybe we could figure out a minimum (or more) amount we could all kick-in to cover your costs...I don't have a clue what an annual budget for an operation like yours costs...hundreds probably, or maybe thousands ?
Mike

[GeoffM]

Steve,
is Interac E-Transfer a thing in the States? If your bank supports it, ass we'd need is your email tied to your bank account and we can transfer funds to you.
Easy peasy.

[steve_car]

It is not just business accounts that are subject to the $600 law. Personal accounts that get over $600 per year from credit card payments are reported to the IRS. Personal accounts can use the friends and family option to avoid this. Business accounts used to be able to use friends and family, but that was taken away last year.

[S Allen]

Geoff,

I will have to look into the Interac E-Transfer but I have never heard of it before. Thanks.

S

[S Allen]

23yrRebuild,

I will do up another yearly expense. I know I have done this before. It is not thousands.

Steve

[guyatou]

Haven’t logged in for a while and just saw the PayPal cancellation. I got worries that the site was closing! Thanks for all of your hard work and dedication Steven. I’ll send ya a check soon. This site is the backbone of the Roadster community and I’m happy to do what I can to keep it going!

[Gregs672000]

I "understand" the effort to tax "side hustle" with all the Etsy type business, but $600 bucks is a ridiculous starting number and almost scared my wife away from trying her hand at marketing some of her unique pictures. I'm hoping there's enough push back to revise that amount. Non-profit community forums "should" have some kind of verifiable non-profit designation to accept donations... I wonder what it would take to be a non-profit? Regardless, this is all work for Steve, and as we have seen that has been hours of effort and expertise, and I would have no problem with Steve being compensated. I think it's a good idea to get an idea on an annual budget, and maybe for Steve to keep track of hours and we can "thank him" accordingly...
I'm afraid this is all way outside my knowledge and expertise, but I support any effort that supports Steve and continues our forum.

[dads311]

You might look at Zelle. Most major financial institutions have it. A nice easy way to transfer money. Available at over 1700 banks and credit unions.

[Datsunparts.comInc]

It is not just business accounts that are subject to the $600 law. Personal accounts that get over $600 per year from credit card payments are reported to the IRS. Personal accounts can use the friends and family option to avoid this. Business accounts used to be able to use friends and family, but that was taken away last year.

This is nothing new. This $600.00 amount was in place 35 years ago for EVERYONE by most state boards that stated: If a person had more than 3 garage sales a year and netted more than $600.00 you were considered a business.
25 years ago Ebay came along and non business persons had year round garage sales on Ebay earning billions of unreported income, not to mention no sales tax was ever collected. It finally caught up with them.
I had to decide if I wanted to run under the radar or do the reporting, I chose to do the reporting.
Registered non profit organizations get to deduct their expenses.

Is this thing that they are doing a bad thing or a good one? I'm open to healthy debate.

Dean