We could all use a little extra cash. But between working your full-time job, family time, and all your other commitments, who has time to work a traditional part-time job? Luckily, there are plenty of off-the-wall ways to make money that you can fit into your schedule. Here are some of the weirdest ways to fatten your wallet. Perhaps one of them will be the perfect second revenue stream for you:

1. Selling yourself

Would you sell your hair to raise cash?

I’m not talking about the world’s oldest profession—but legally selling body parts can net you some pretty good money quickly. For example, women (or men!) with very long hair can generally earn anywhere from $300 to $900 dollars for their tresses. Hair that is untreated is worth more, and generally the price goes up with length. Buyandsellhair is a (slightly creepy) website where you can post an ad to find a buyer for your hair.

2. Selling your bodily fluids

Selling plasma and other bodily fluids is another tried-and-true way to get “free” money. While the amount you earn from plasma donation varies from center to center, you can generally anticipate earning around $30-$50 per donation, and you may donate your plasma up to twice per week.

3. Becoming a medical guinea pig

Finally, if you’re willing to be a medical guinea pig, there are plenty of studies that need human participants. Check out gpgp to find a study being conducted in your area, or visit your local university website to see if they are offering any opportunities.

4. Harvesting scrap metal

Many recyclable metals, such as copper, have been at or near record high prices over the last few years. If you have some old metal items laying around, you may be able to turn them into cash. We can only recommend recycling items you own, however. An increasingly disturbing trend is stealing electrical wiring from homes, often those in foreclosure. Unfortunately, it is incredibly dangerous and can be fatal.

5. Selling your space

If you live in a major metropolitan area where parking is a premium, or near an event location, such as a concert hall or sporting arena, consider renting out your parking space. An added bonus is that having to park your car in a less convenient spot means you’re less likely to use it for every errand, saving you gas.

If you own your home, you may consider taking in a boarder. The extra cash can help you with the mortgage payment, and it’s nice to have company. Do be sure to draw up a lease, just in case company becomes a crowd.

6. Earning money through freelancing – one job at a time

ODesk and Elance are both online marketplaces which unites freelancers and other contractors with business owners and others who need a specific task accomplished. The jobs can be as small an individual photo editing job, or something as large as designing and building a mobile phone app, a website, or other large tasks. Some examples of available work include photo editing/graphics design, web edvelopment, Virtual Assistants (VA), freelance writing, and more.

7. Selling your time

We’ve all heard about internet sites that pay you to take surveys. But there are so many more options available to you if you have the time. One of the most well known is Amazon’s Mechanical Turk website. This site offers fairly trivial tasks that machines would have trouble accomplishing. Each task earns you pennies, but you can withdraw your pay once you’ve earned $10. Some other websites that will pay you for your time:

• Ejury needs people to sit on virtual/mock juries so that lawyers can prepare for the real deal. If you’re a fast reader, you can zip through the documents and present your mock verdict for a cool $5-$10.
• Cloudcrowd offers data entry, editing, and image processing tasks in exchange for anywhere from $0.01 to $30.00 per task. This is a perfect online job for students or people a lot of downtime from their primary jobs.
• Clixsense is not for the faint of heart, but it can earn you money in exchange for nothing but your time. This site pays you to look at advertisements for 30 seconds at a pop. The amount you earn is very low (from $0.001 per view to $0.02 per view), but if you’ve got the time and the ability to handle the boredom, this could be a great way to earn some extra cash.

8. Selling your wares

If you’re a crafty individual and you haven’t yet heard of Etsy, now is the time to start selling your crafts online. The quirkier, the better, since the Etsy marketplace seems to skew towards the types of crafts you can’t find anywhere else.

If you’re a great amateur photographer, consider selling your photos to stock photography sites like Pond5, which also allows you to sell music, videos, and sound effects. You earn 50% of the price of each sale—which range from $2 to $5. This could be a great way to make a hobby pay some extra cash on the side.

9. Selling items to the masses

If you live just down the street from a major stadium, cash in on the huge number of fans who troop past your door by selling the sorts of things people always need: bottles of water, cans of soda, snacks, or even umbrellas. Even if you don’t have a perfectly situated home, consider selling these items to motorists in the next traffic jam or to festival- or concert-goers in the parking lot of major events. Just be sure to check the laws of your state beforehand.

10. Selling on Craigslist

Craigslist is a great forum for buying and selling a variety of items, and if you need some quick cash, then Craigslist could be a good way to clear some closet space and pad your wallet. Here are some tips for selling items on Craigslist, and another set of tips for seling your car on Craigslist.

No matter what your situation, there are creative ways for you to make money. What’s the weirdest way you’ve ever earned extra cash?

Photo credit: juliejordanscott

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I started organizing all of my tax documents, and while I was gathering all of my 1099s, I realized there are several accounts I am no longer using and which I should close. One of those happens to be my SmartyPig account. When SmartyPig burst onto the scene a couple years ago, they promised to revolutionize the savings industry. And in a way, they did. For awhile, anyway.

SmartyPig added a social element to saving, and turned it into something of a game. To top it off, they added some of the best interest rates in the nation (at the time), and the opportunity to save toward a goal at high interest rates, then redeem your money for discounted gift cards, which in effect, would increase your savings even more.

Eventually, the depressed interest rates caught up with SmartyPig, and they had to continually lower their interest rates. In the process, they changed their business model so much that I declared SmartyPig is no longer relevant. Perhaps that headline was a little harsh, as they are still relevant. But SmartyPig is no longer as glamorous as they once were (feel free to insert your own joke about putting lipstick on a pig).

Basically, SmartyPig changed from emphasizing creating savings goals to ave money, to creating goals to spend money, with the emphasis on redeeming the money in your account for discounted gift cards or The SmartyPig Cash Rewards Card. Since SmartyPig no longer offers the highest interest rates in the country, I began to wonder why I still had an account with them. I couldn’t find a good reason to maintain *yet another account*, so I decided to close it.

How to close a SmartyPig account

The benefits of closing accounts are several, and primarily centered around better knowing where all your funds are so you can more easily account for them. Fewer financial accounts also simplifies planning and organization, tax time (fewer 1099 forms), and more. In short, the fewer financial accounts you have, the better off you probably are in the long run (provided you are meeting all your financial needs of course).

The first task when closing a SmartyPig account is to close out all of your active savings goals. The SmartyPig interface isn’t the easiest in the world to figure out the first time you use it, so I included a few screenshots. Since I didn’t want to share my savings goals with the world, I decided to create a new goal – just to close. Enter, the beer fund.

First step to close a SmartyPig account - close your Savings Goal

Once you click your account, then click the “close goal link above your goal. And no, I didn’t have a plan to save $250 for beer, though that would make for one great fiesta! $250 was the minimum savings goal, and my purpose for creating this account was just to close it for this tutorial (I didn’t want to share my true savings goal!).

Click the Close Goal button

The next step is to choose a redemption option.

Savings Goal Redemption Options:

Reaching your savings goals is what SmartyPig is all about, right? You save until you reach your goal, then you withdraw your money to pay for whatever it was you were saving for. SmartyPig even makes it easier for you to reach certain goals, especially if your saving goal was really a spending goal. For example, let’s look at the redemption options customers are presented with when they are ready to close a goal:

SmartyPig Savings Goal redempion options - they really want you to spend

The goal redemption options, listed left to right are: retailer gift cards, followed by a SmartyPig Cash Rewards Card, followed by an ACH transfer. Here is the text from their website:

Retailer Gift Cards: Want to get the most bang for your buck? Retailer Gift Cards offer up to 11% cash back savings. Choose from retailers like Amazon, Macy’s, Travelocity, Chili’s and more. You can redeem your entire goal or just a portion. And while you’re at it, you might want to pick up a few as gifts as well.

SmartyPig Cash Rewards Card: Need INSTANT access to the cash in your goal? Want to earn up to 10% cash back at more than 9,000 retailers? The SmartyPig Cash Rewards Card is your best choice. Transfer your whole goal, or just a portion – anytime.

ACH Transfer: Prefer to transfer your balance back to your bank account. You can do that too

When you actually go to redeem your goal, you must accept or decline each of these options as well. Earning a cash savings of up to 11% sounds good to me. So I decided to check out the retail gift cards. Alas, SmartyPig didn’t offer many gift cards to stores I shop at frequently*, so I chose to redeem my savings for an Amazon Gift Card, which offered a cash savings of 3%.

*To be fair, I’m not much of a shopper, so I’m not a good litmus test for the quality of their offerings. I redeemed a gift card a few months ago and SmartyPig was offering savings of up to 14% for retail stores, and it seemed as though there were more options, but I’m sure the type of gift cards and savings vary by availability.

Save 3% on an Amazon gift card -- Woo-hoo!!!

You will notice that I had $50.03 in my account, and the 3% cash savings on the Amazon gift card, left me with a total of $1.53 to do with what I pleased. Once you elect to redeem some or all of your funds for a retail gift card, you then need to decide whether or not you want to redeem some or all of your remaining funds toward The SmartyPig Cash Rewards Card. Since I only have $1.53 remaining on my card, I don’t think I’ll be choosing this option.

So I elected to transfer the remaining $1.53 via an ACH Bank-to-Bank Transfer. It feels kinda funny making an ACH transfer for only $1.53, but there was really nothing else I could do with it.

What’s Left to Close Your SmartyPig Account?

At this point I’m not 100% certain: the SmartyPig FAQ page lists this as their instructions for closing an account: To close one of your accounts or your profile, please first stop and close any existing goals. Once your goals have been closed, contact SmartyPig customer support at support@smartypig.com and we will be happy to assist you. (I’m still awaiting a reply from my e-mail this morning, but they promise to respond within 1 business day). You can also try calling their customer support number: (888) 567-6278.

Pros and Cons Closing Your Account

First, I’m not recommending that everyone close their account. I closed mine because I realized I wasn’t using it, and life in the long run would be more simple with fewer financial accounts. SmartyPig still offers a good interest rate compared to the national average, but they are only about 70% of what the top banks are currently offering. In addition, their account isn’t designed to be used like most online banks with features such as online bill pay, etc. This is simply a savings account with the option of redeeming your savings for discounted gift cards. Since it is limited as a financial account, it is no longer good for my needs.

The primary benefit of keeping your account open is being able to buy discounted gift cards. However, that benefit was outweighed for me because it is easy to save money on every purchase by using online sites like Ebates for online rebates, or Plastic Jungle for discounted gift cards.

Final note: SmartyPig only offers 1099 forms via download, so make sure you print or download all applicable tax information before closing your account so you will have a copy for your records.

Related Articles:

1. SmartyPig Race Out of Debt Contest
2. SmartyPig Lowers Interest Rates – Is Their Business Model Sustainable?
3. SmartyPig Review – SmartyPig is Smart Banking

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As a female and a personal finance writer, I find it interesting when reports looking at women and money are released. Recently, a report called “Women in America: Indicators of Social and Economic Well-Being” was released by the White House. It offers some interesting information about how women make money these days, a considers the trends associated with women and money.

The bottom line from the report, as far as women’s overall financial health is concerned, is that women live longer than men, on average, but they also tend to earn less (in spite of financial progress over the years) over their lifetimes. The result is that women have fewer financial resources as they age — and they live longer in those circumstances.

Why Do Women Earn Less Over Time?

The reasons that women earn less over time has a lot to do with the careers they choose, as well as the roles they fill in society. According to the report, women are less likely to work outside the home than men are. Additionally, those women who do work outside the home are more likely to work part-time than men — and more likely to take time off to care for children and elderly dependents.

In most cases, this means that there aren’t many opportunities for women to earn enough to last them in retirement. (I’m in more fortunate circumstances; I don’t work outside the home, but I’m still the primary breadwinner with my freelancing business.) Some of this disparity could be overcome with a spousal IRA, in which working spouse makes contributions to an IRA set up for a non-working spouse. The fact that women miss out on earning money due to their roles can cause problems later in life if her partner isn’t properly insured, or if there are issues associated with transferring assets.

And, of course, if a marriage or other partnership arrangement dissolves, that can cause even more problems for a woman who has spent most of her time working part-time, or taking care of the home. I’m not saying that it’s a bad thing to stay home and raise your children; however, you do need to look at the realities of the situation, and realize that it puts you at more financial risk. You need to take steps, whether it’s with some sort of financial agreement to protect you in divorce, or whether you have your own money set aside and adequate life insurance for your partner, to ensure that your financial future is safe when the time comes.

Another interesting point is that of education. The report points out that more women are obtaining degrees than men now. However, fewer women than men earn degrees in higher-paying fields like engineering. One of the reasons that women, overall, only make 80% (in 2009) of what men, overall, make is due to the fact that women are in careers that offer lower compensation. As you consider your career path, it might be worth it to look into higher-paying options. You will earn more over your lifetime, and be more financial sound.

What do you think? Do women need to do more to improve their financial stability?

Photo credit: meddygarnet

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In 2003, I became an AmeriCorps volunteer. For nearly a year, I worked in the art room of a Boys & Girls Club in Columbus, Ohio, creating educational and fun projects for 6-12 year olds. It was a rewarding, challenging, and educational part of my career.

I can also say that it truly helped me later on when I decided to become a high school English teacher. During my student teaching, I felt fairly comfortable with classroom management and discipline—which are usually the bane of a new teacher’s existence—because I had already learned some great techniques during my time as a volunteer with the Boys & Girls Club.

Volunteering can teach you valuable skills

Job seekers who are having trouble finding work are often urged to spend some time volunteering. It is yet another great way to network, it helps to alleviate the stress of the job search, and it also can keep your skills fresh or introduce some new ones. Here are some great volunteer opportunities that will help you learn something new:

1. Habitat for Humanity. I learned some of the (very few) home renovation skills that I know from doing a couple of stints with Habitat for Humanity. This great charity helps to build affordable homes for needy families. Depending on the volunteer need, you could end up having an opportunity to learn various building skills from experts.

If you’re a do-it-yourself expert, Habitat can also offer you an opportunity to lead a crew, teach newbies, or manage a schedule. All of those skills translate to great resume boosters, giving you yet another excellent reason for lending your skills to a good cause.

2. Soup Kitchens. Volunteering at a soup kitchen could give you any number of useful experiences. Any of the work in the kitchen—from preparing the meals to serving them to cleaning up—translate well to the skills needed for a restaurant worker. Some soup kitchens need volunteers to deliver meals to homebound individuals. This can help you feel more connected to your community—and for someone new to town, it can be a great way to learn your way around.

3. Crisis Counseling. Whether you volunteer in a battered women’s shelter, or as an operator at a crisis hotline, this kind of work is not for the faint of heart. But this can be great training for anyone interested in going into social work, counseling, or psychology. Because this sort of volunteer work requires fairly extensive training, it is definitely a great step for anyone considering a career in the helping fields.

4. Museum Docent. Showing tour groups around your local museum not only helps you bone up on art history, but it also gives you a chance to learn public speaking skills, time management, and thinking on your feet. (Ask anyone who has worked as a docent—they can tell you that there’s always a stumper of a question every few tours).

5. Animal Shelter. A love of animals is all you need to spend some time volunteering at an animal shelter, but you can also learn some important skills, as well. If you are interested in becoming a veterinarian or a vet’s lab assistant, your time at the shelter will give you a leg up over those who have not spent time with animals in a formal setting.

Volunteering means that you selflessly give your time to a good cause, but often, you gain much more than you give when you volunteer.

Photo credit: vastateparksstaff

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If you file your taxes with the IRS EFile, or with an tax software program that files your taxes online for you, then you are in luck – you will generally receive your tax refund much more quickly than if you file your taxes by mail. The reason is that electronic tax returns are easier for the IRS to process, making it faster for them to clear the books on your tax return and send you a refund check.

IRS E-File – When Will I Get My Tax Refund?

How long does it take to get your tax refund? The IRS created a schedule for when they will send out federal tax refunds via direct deposit or by check. The general rule of thumb is that direct deposits will be sent out approximately one week before paper checks are sent out. Keep in mind it may take a few days for your financial institution to make your deposit available to you, or it may take several days for the check to arrive in the mail, then another few days after you deposit he check before the funds are available.

IRS E-File Schedule for Tax Refunds via Check or Direct Deposits

The IRS releases an annual schedule to help tax payers better plan around tax season so they will know when they can expect to receive their refund check.

The table below shows when your federal tax refund should be direct deposited into your bank account, or the date your check will be mailed if you filed your taxes electronically and your tax refund was accepted within the dates in the table. Keep in mind it may take a few extra days, or even up to a week to receive a paper check. (source).

This table cuts off after the filing deadline, which is April 17th this year. Here is the full IRS EFile Tax Refund Schedule.

Some important notes about this tax refund schedule: This is only good when you E-File your taxes because the IRS will notify you of the date of acceptance – generally within 72 hours of receipt. Tax returns sent on paper forms must be manually entered into the IRS computers and there is no way to track the date of acceptance, so this chart won’t work for estimating which day your tax return will be sent.

The other important thing to note is that IRS refund checks are processed fairly quickly, usually within 1-2 weeks. This is just one more reason to say no to refund anticipation loans.

Where is My IRS Refund Check?

You can check the status of your federal tax refund as soon as 72 hours after the IRS acknowledges receipt of your e-filed return. The quickest and easiest way to get this information is to go to the Where’s My Refund page. Or, call 1-800-829-1954 or 1-800-829-4477.

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Car insurance is a requirement – and not just to protect yourself and others in the event of an accident – but a legal requirement. If you drive a car, you need insurance. Fortunately (and unfortunately), there are thousands of companies which provide automobile insurance and just as many policies from which to choose.  With so many options availalbe, it’s easy to throw your hands up and choose whichever is the cheapest option, or to just stay with the company you have been using for years. Both of those options are easy, but they can also cost you a lot of money in the long run.

So which auto policy is the best? The one that provides quality coverage at an affordable rate.  Sounds easy, right? It’s actually not as bad as it sounds. The following tips will help you find affordable auto insurance rates without sacrificing coverage.

How To Find Affordable Auto Insurance Rates

Insurance doesn't have to be expensive!

Look for one insurance provider for all policies.  If you have more than one car or have other insurance policies such as home owners or life insurance, you may qualify for lower premiums by having all of your policies through one provider.  Multiple policy discounts not only make insurance less expensive but you can take care of all your insurance needs at one location making it an affordable and convenient choice.

Ask for organization affiliations.  Many insurance providers offer a discount if you are a member of a certain organization.  Ask for a list of group affiliations that qualify for discounts, these may include credit unions, certain credit card accounts and colleges groups.

Lower your coverage.  There are certain minimum coverage requirements that must be met in order for your vehicle to be legally insured.  Financed vehicles also have insurance requirements to ensure the vehicle is properly covered while you are making payments to the bank or dealer.  Beyond this, it is up to you how much or how little insurance you carry.  The higher the coverage the higher the premium.  If you lower your coverage and increase your deductible you will see a reduction in your insurance premium. You may even reach a point where it makes sense financially to drop full coverage in lieu of liability only auto insurance.

Shop around.  While car insurance policies are very similar regardless of the provider, they are not exactly alike.  For this reason you must shop around and compare all policies and providers to find the best rates available, and to determine what exactly your car insurance covers. It’s generally a good idea to get several insurance quotes every few months to ensure you are getting the best rates.

Improve your credit.  Did you know that your insurance provider may check your credit history before quoting a price for insurance premiums?  If you have a low credit score as a result of a financial hardship in the past, make every effort to improve your credit before shopping for insurance.  The better your credit score the less money you will spend on insurance premiums.

Be a responsible driver.  Your driving history just like your credit history will play a factor in your premium prices.  A clean driving record is viewed favorably by the insurance provider because you pose a lower risk than a person with a history of accidents, claims or traffic violations.

Security and safety devices.  If your vehicle comes equipped with security and safety devices, make sure the insurance provider is aware of them.  This is true for any devices you may have purchases and installed that reduce the chances of theft or injury.  These devices will reduce the cost of your automobile insurance.

These are just a few of the ways you can lower your automobile insurance rates.  Car insurance is a necessary part of owning and operating a car.  Knowing how to reduce this expense without sacrificing coverage is a great way to save money that can be used elsewhere in your budget.

Photo credit: sylvar

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A couple years ago, my coworker and I were discussing our bucket lists, you know, the list of things you want to accomplish or see before you die. He mentioned his dad’s biggest wish was to go to the Super Bowl, and we got on the topic of buying Super Bowl tickets. All we knew about buying Super Bowl tickets was that it is very expensive, and it helps to know someone. So we looked it up for fun.

How to Buy Super Bowl Tickets

How to Buy Super Bowl Tickets

The first thing you need to know is how the NFL distributes Super Bowl tickets. The distribution of Super Bowl tickets goes to a mixture of players, coaches and NFL personnel, season ticket holders, corporate sponsors, and the general public. Here is the Super bowl ticket distribution from Super Bowl XLII:

• AFC Champion — 17.5 percent
• NFC Champion — 17.5 percent
• Host Team — 5.0 percent
• Other 29 Teams — 34.8 percent
• NFL — 25.2 percent

75% of all tickets go to the NFL teams, with each team in the game receiving a total of 35%, the host team receiving 5%, and the rest of the teams receiving just over 1% each. The tickets allotted to the NFL are used for corporate sponsors, the broadcast network, affiliated companies, charities, fans, and more.

NFL Random Drawing for Super Bowl Tickets

The only method the NFL has to distribute tickets to the public is through a random drawing; there is no other way for the general public to purchase tickets from the NFL. The NFL also does not sell tickets to travel or ticket agents. The lottery system is free to enter and those selected have the opportunity to purchase up to two tickets at face value. Unfortunately, there is a very limited number of available tickets, some sources stating only 500 tickets are sold to the general public in any given year.

Entries for the random drawing are accepted between Feb. 1 and June 1 of the year preceding the game and winners are notified by mail in October or November. All ticket requests must be sent via certified or registered mail.

To enter into the random Super Bowl Ticket drawing, send a letter to:

Super Bowl Random Drawing
P.O. Box 49140
Strongsville, OH 44149-0140

Please note that only one request per address is accepted and duplicate requests will be disregarded.

Buying Super Bowl Tickets from players and season ticket holders

Most teams give a set number of Super Bowl tickets to their players and personnel, then hold a random drawing for their season ticket holders to distribute the remaining tickets. This can create a secondary market for the tickets. Many of the tickets that end up in the hands of ticket agencies (see below) were purchased from season ticket holders and team personnel. Players and coaches are not permitted to resell their tickets for more than face value, but it happens under the table.

Super Bowl Ticket Trivia: The NFL’s anti-scalping policy was brought to the nation’s attention in 2005 when Vikings head coach Mike Tice was caught scalping his Super Bowl tickets. He was fined $100,000 by the NFL and let go by the Vikings the following season.

Buy from a ticket agency

Every major ticket agency will have Super Bowl tickets. Check out RazorGator, TickCo, StubHub, Ticketmaster. These are reputable companies and offer a guarantee, which is something you won’t get if you are buying them over Ebay, Craigslist, or from a ticket scalper. If you are going purchase Super Bowl tickets online, get them from a reputable agency.

How much do Super Bowl Tickets cost? The rate varies depending on several factors, including seat location, hype for the game, who is playing, venue, etc.

Buy from a Scalper

Caution, caution, caution! Before going this route, be sure you know the laws of the land. Scalping is not legal in every state, so you want to ensure you remain on the right side of the law. Additionally, there may be specific laws against scalping within certain cities or even on the premises of the sporting event itself. Next, recognize that you are dealing with people you don’t know and a lot of cash (try finding a scalper who will accept anything other than cash).

Do your research to find out as much as you can about the current street price of the tickets, and be wary of any seats being sold below the current rate. In short, be prepared to shell out some serious cash. You also want to do as much research as you can regarding the actual tickets. Find out what some of the security features are. Ask the scalper to see the tickets. If they don’t have them available at the moment then ask when you can meet up to see the tickets. (This is common because scalpers often work in teams and don’t want to have thousands of dollars worth of tickets on them all the time). You may wish to see several sets of tickets before you are comfortable you are receiving a legitimate ticket. I’ve heard that some venues and teams offer broker zones, so look into this.

Above all, be cautious. Be careful carrying large sums of cash (arrange to meet the ticket scalper at a predetermined time if necessary), and remember that with scalpers, all sales are final.

Photo credit: JohnSeb

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Starting this year, for tax year 2011, there is a new 1099 form in town. Many of us are already familiar with the 1099-MISC, especially if we work from home as contractors. The 1099 is meant for income that comes, in a fairly regular way, from sources that aren’t considered a “regular” job (which will issue you a W-2). There are different types of 1099 forms, including those that report interest income and dividend income. The latest type of 1099, though, is the 1099-K.

What is the 1099-K?

Will you receive a 1099-k?

Due to the rise of of people making money with the help of the Internet, the 1099-K has been introduced. For the most part, the 1099-K is meant to ensure that income made from power sellers on sites like eBay is properly reported. The 1099-K is issued by third party payment processors, including banks and non-bank services like PayPal. So, if you use eBay to earn money selling, your transactions, processed through PayPal, will be reflected on the 1099-K issued by PayPal. If you sell through Amazon, and Amazon processes the transactions, you will be issued a 1099-K from Amazon.

This even applies to bank accounts. Banks that processes your transactions through a merchant account or some other way will issue you a 1099-K, stating your income such transactions. This is meant to cut down on some of the under-reporting that the IRS saw regarding certain transactions where a 1099-MISC might not be issued because the situation might not be a contract situation.

In order to be issued a 1099-K, though, you will have to have participated in at least 200 transactions amounting to at least $20,000 over the course of the year. So, the occasional eBay seller trying to clean out the attic is not likely to be issued a 1099-K. The new form is meant to enforce income reporting among those who are doing decent business, and who may not be reporting it.

Issues with 1099-K Reporting

I’m already seeing some problems in my own situation with the new 1099-K forms. Since most of my clients pay via PayPal, I fully expect that I will soon receive a 1099-K from PayPal. Of course, many of my clients also issue me a 1099-MISC. I’ve already received a few of those. The problem with this is that some of my income is going to be double reported to the IRS, making it look like I earned more than I actually did.

In order to protect myself in the event of an audit, I am going to have to make a note of which clients issuing 1099-MISC forms also pay through PayPal so that information can be cross-referenced later. (My accountant will also need this information, since he’s preparing my taxes.) Additionally, it will be important to go through my PayPal statements and tote up the fees paid each month. These can be deducted against my income, providing me with a little help. While I’ve always kept good records in the past, and reported all of my income, the new 1099-K will require me to be even more vigilant in my efforts.

If you have a business that involves selling products or services, and a third-party is handling the transactions, watch for the 1099-K. And make sure you reconcile your 1099-K forms with your 1099-MISC forms.

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3. Revolution Money Exchange Review

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