Tax Season Help - SSN Change?
Anyone out there with some helpful advice or guidance would be most appreciated as I am at complete a loss right now on what my next move should be. I've read these forums on multiple occasions over the years and have gotten some pretty helpful advice but have never posted a question myself, so just want to thank anyone who is active out there for reaching out to help the eBay community as it is most appreciated.
Here is my dilemma - I have been selling on eBay for about 5 years now and over the last year my sales have really taken off way more than I could have ever imagined (around 20k in sales annually). When I first set up the account it was under my mothers name and SSN as I was helping my folks sell a lot of their own items that had value (lifelong garage sale hoarders, mostly vintage collectibles) and the money would go directly to her bank account so she could declare it all on her own taxes. Over the years I have begun collecting and selling a lot of my own items and have pretty much taken the store over as my own after selling off the majority of my parents stuff for them. Would like to have the SSN switched over to my own SSN so the yearly 1099k form can be sent to me and give them a break on the taxes from now on as a lot of what i'm selling nowadays is for my own personal profit. A year ago I switched our bank accounts over so that the money would go directly to my account with my SSN and have been reimbursing them out of pocket for whatever I sold of theirs since the switch. Didn't realize the 1099k was sent to the eBay account SSN number, thought it would be sent to the SSN number with the bank account that was receiving the payments. So yeah all of this money is being taxed to her when I would prefer to be the one receiving the 1099k form so they don't have the tax burden to deal with from this point forward. Is there any way to change the account over to my SSN or does this mean what I fear - that I have to start a completely new account from scratch with selling limits and zero feedback? Selling on eBay has been something I've come to enjoy and have always had good feedback and customer service always try to ship carefully within 24-48 hours and enjoy talking to people who reach out about items with questions or concerns. Really hate to give up this store account that I've built as I have put a lot of time and effort into it over the years. Have 100% positive feedback with over 1800 sales and over 320 listings active right now. Can I set up a new account with my personal info, SSN, and bank account and link it to this one to at least transfer the listings? The account I'm posting from is my own personal account and would like to link I've never sold anything using it but have made some purchases.
whitewaterford
·6 months ago@downriverresale I agree with everything said previously .... going forward you need to use an eBay account assigned to your SSN or EIN. I'm not an accountant, but your mother's tax accountant can probably help redirect the 2025 1099-k eBay already attributed to your mother's SSN by filing a 1096 with a new 1099-k for you. I wouldn't attempt this yourself as it has to be done with paper forms. It also may be past the filing deadline, so ask your accountant.
Once you start using your own eBay account, this issue will go away the following year.
luckythewinner
·6 months agoWhen I first set up the account it was under my mothers name and SSN as I was helping my folks sell a lot of their own items that had value
That makes it your mother's account, not yours.
You need to stop using her account, and start using yours.
thought it would be sent to the SSN number with the bank account that was receiving the payments.
Banks do not give out SSN's to third parties. eBay would have no idea what SSN is on a bank account. That would be a serious breach of privacy. The only SSN eBay knows is the one you gave to eBay.
duffy4444
·6 months agoUntil you accept the fact that there may be a lot of time and effort to spend in resolving the issue, IMHO the simplest thing is to reimburse your mom for the sales you benefit from and she gets dinged for... just a thought...
Cheers, Duffy
worldcoinauctions
·6 months agoSet up a business, get an EIN (takes about 30 seconds) change the registration of the account to the business. I've done this and ebay allowed it. My tax info goes to the LLC.
downriverresale
OP6 months agoCan I update the account from a personal to a business account as a sole proprietor and use my own SSN? Or do I have to obtain an EIN and LLC to do so? If this would be possible then this sounds like a great option with the account generating 20k+ yearly I feel it has definitely become more than just the casual seller type of situation. Just have no idea what the changes to the account would be after changing from a personal to business account.
BTW thanks for the advice from yourself and anyone else in this thread. I feel lost sometimes in the eBay world and these threads can be very helpful and informative versus trying to deal with customer service. Sincerely appreciate it.
stephenmorgan
·6 months agoIf you add yourself to your parents account as a authorized user then you would probably be able to speak with eBay about the account.
dhbookds
·6 months agoThere are companies that can transfer listings from one to another account........ Inkfrog and 6 bit are among them.......they do cost money but you could only pay for one month probably.........
onefootflipper
·6 months agoIt is really easy to transfer listings with crosslist.com. You just link it to one account, import all the listings, then unlink it and link it to the second account and export all the listings. If ebay throttles you at first then you can keep the extra listings in crosslist until they open the account back up fully. I have started new accounts for multiple people in the past and it never took many sales for me to get them unlocked.
https://crosslist.com/?via=foot
Use coupon code 1FOOT for 30 percent off your first payment.
stephenmorgan
·6 months agoeBay won't let you transfer an account to another person. You have an account, so why not sell your stuff from that account? You can have more than on eBay account if needed like one for buying and one for selling but you can not transfer to another person.
downriverresale
OP6 months agoIt's just that all of the effort and time I put into the other account would be for nothing going forward because I would be starting over from scratch, just wish there was another way. If I remove and relist all of 320+ items from the other account on a different one (plus a lot more stuff I've been meaning to post- so probably around 400) would I be able to do that immediately with a new seller account or would there be limits that prevent me? Ive heard new seller limits are like 10 sales per month which just sounds brutal...
jonathanbrightlight
·6 months agoSince eBay knows the accounts are associated, sometimes they will take that into account for the selling limits, but it’s not a guarantee.
stephenmorgan
·6 months agoWith a new seller account eBay will tell you what your limits are.
I started another account and was restricted to 600 items and $35,000. It has been over two years and I still have the same restrictions.
You will have to start all over for each item you wish to list.
Since you are wanting to switch accounts with parents I don't know if there is a way to do that. I don't know if a Power of Attorney would be accepted or even who to ask this to. I have read before that under very limited suitations it may be allowed to transfer an account but what those suitations are, who knows.