IRS asks PayPal for help finding taxpayers hiding income offshore

[AGENDA21]

WASHINGTON - The Internal Revenue Service won approval from a federal court in California to ask PayPal to turn over information about people who might be evading taxes by hiding income in other countries, officials said Tuesday.

A federal court in San Jose, Calif., gave the IRS permission to ask PayPal - a company that enables online money transfers - for account information for American taxpayers who have bank accounts, credit cards or debit cards issued by financial institutions in more than 30 countries reputed to be tax havens.

PayPal spokeswoman Amanda Pires said the company just received the summons.

"We're still evaluating our options," she said. "The privacy of our customers' information is something we take really seriously."

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/news/politics/14318214.htm

[quiet.american]

1. Why don't they ask the White House to turn over information

They'd collect billions upfront from Bushco et al.

They're going too far. NOW can we call it fascism?

[NYC]

2. In the past, I did not have the impression

that PayPal valued the privacy of customers. I thought it was PayPal that voluntarily turned over information in the past. Does anyone remember?

..."We're still evaluating our options," she said. "The privacy of our customers' information is something we take really seriously."...

[MADem]

3. Hell, if they are asking, they probably have already hacked the info n.t

[leftstreet]

4. I didn't know the richest 1% transferred their $ with PayPal

:rofl:

[napi21]

5. I won't say NEVER, but I seriously doubt anybody is hiding

money transfers through Paypal! That's just not a mechanism that makes sense to do large $$ of money. Paypal already files the necessary docs with the IRS for interest income, and they send 1099's to their users.

Actually, I think the IRS is looking for something else! I think they're looking for people who are selling things on Eby etc. and not reporting the income! I suspeccted the IRS would do that years ago, so when I started selling on Ebay, I started keeping the proper documentation and reporting everything...even though the income amount is extremely small. It's not worth it to have THEM say "We think you made $XXX, and you owe us $$$$. If you disagree...prove it!"

[demgrrrll]

8. I agree. I think that is exactly what they are doing.

[elehhhhna]

10. Remember when Cheney cited EBay's growth as an example of

Americans going into business? duh

[LSK]

6. and what about those Corporations with mailboxes in Bermuda???

Always go after the little guy. :grr:

[prolesunited]

7. No kidding!

They would get far more revenue from them.

[elehhhhna]

9. THEY GOT THIS INFO YEARS AGO -- from the credit card co's...

after a long legal battle where Visa & MC claimed they didn't know who their cardholders were--the issuing banks had the info (lol right!) The Clinton Admin Justice (ot IRS) got the records. The BA then offered a tax amnesty & let people re-file & claim & pay tax on offshore income.

Any Caymanian will tell you that the names on the offshore accounts comprise a who's who of Religious, Political, Sports, Entertainment, and general criminals, plus lots of just plain rich people.

[cynatnite]

11. Wait a sec...help me out here...

Paypal is used by people who buy and sell stuff...mostly ones like me. Last year I sold a collection of books to some friends and we used paypal. A few of them lived overseas.

Does this mean that the IRS can come after me for unclaimed income?

Not that I made a lot of money, but plenty of people use paypal for the same things. Are they trying to find a way to sucker punch us for more money?

Am I reading it wrong?

[demgrrrll]

12. Some people claim that they are not really in business but sell things

for a self supporting hobby. I think there are guidelines that can be used to prove that you collect and sell to support your own hobby. I can think of one person who sells on ebay who clearly states this in his "about me" section. I do not know all the tax ins and outs of self supporting hobby status but I do know that some people do use that status and do not pay taxes.