GIG WORKERS BEWARE!!

IRS Tracking Down Gig Income

The IRS now has a campaign to make sure gig workers report their income.

It obtained court authorization to serve a John Doe summons on JustAnswer LLC—a digital platform that lets anyone pay to ask questions, then get answers from various professionals.

The court said the IRS showed there is a reasonable basis to believe that experts paid to provide answers on the platform have not complied with federal tax law: They have failed to report all their income.

The summons will require JustAnswer LLC to provide the IRS with information identifying individuals paid to provide advice through the platform. The IRS will use this data to examine the advisors’ tax returns to see who did not report income from the platform.

Key point: Taxpayers must report income even if they were not issued a W-2, 1099 or other information return from the payer.

If the JustAnswer LLC summons uncovers meaningful amounts of unreported income, the IRS will go after other third-party platforms—i.e., other gig income—where people earn income. 

  AIPB  The General Ledger.

VOLUME 19: Issue 52[IR-24-1643]