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The 1099-K threshold for 2025 and 2026, and how it got here

Published September 25, 2026 6 min read

Payment apps and online marketplaces have to send you a Form 1099-K only when your payments exceed $20,000 and your transactions exceed 200 in the same calendar year. That rule covers 2025 and 2026. The $600 threshold you may have read about was never enforced, and a July 2025 law repealed it retroactively.

What is the 1099-K reporting threshold for 2025 and 2026?

For 2026, a payment app or online marketplace has to file a Form 1099-K for you only if your payments top $20,000 and you have more than 200 transactions in the year. You must pass both limits. The rule is section 6050W(e) of the tax code, as amended by Public Law 119-21 on July 4, 2025, and the IRS restates it in Publication 1099 for 2026.

The IRS calls these platforms third party settlement organizations. They include online marketplaces, payment apps, auction sites and ticket resale sites. Card payments work differently: a payment card processor reports card sales at any amount (IRS, Understanding your Form 1099-K, reviewed June 28, 2026).

How has the 1099-K threshold changed since 2021?

The 1099-K threshold for marketplaces has been set by the tax code, a 2021 law, three IRS notices and a 2025 law. Here is each calendar year, the rule that governed its forms, and the document that set it. Only 2024 ran on a lower federal figure.

Sources: IR-2025-107 (October 23, 2025) for the pre-2022 rule and the 2025 reinstatement; Notice 2024-85, which recounts Notices 2023-10 and 2023-74 and sets the 2024 level; Notice 2023-74; the statute and its amendment notes; Publication 1099 (2026).

Why was the $600 rule never enforced?

The $600 rule was never enforced because the IRS delayed it three times before Congress repealed it. The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 cut the threshold to $600, with no transaction count, for years after 2021. Notice 2023-10 kept $20,000 and 200 for 2022. Notice 2023-74 did the same for 2023. Notice 2024-85 set a $5,000 level for 2024 and planned $2,500 for 2025 and $600 after that.

Then Public Law 119-21, signed July 4, 2025, rewrote the rule back to over $20,000 and over 200 transactions, with effect "as if included" in the 2021 act. On October 23, 2025 the IRS said the law "retroactively reinstated" the old threshold (IR-2025-107). The law is often called the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and the IRS now lists its changes under the name Working Families Tax Cuts.

Is the $600 rule gone?

Yes, for Form 1099-K. Marketplaces and payment apps report only above $20,000 and 200 transactions. The $600 figure you may also remember belongs to other forms, such as Form 1099-NEC for contractor pay and Form 1099-MISC for rents and prizes. For tax years after 2025 that threshold rose to $2,000, adjusted for inflation from 2027 (IRS Publication 1099, 2026).

Do you have to pass both limits, $20,000 and 200 transactions?

Yes. A platform has to send a 1099-K only when you pass both limits in the same calendar year: more than $20,000 in payments and more than 200 transactions. The examples below are made up to show the test. They aren't anyone's real numbers.

A platform can still send one when you're under both limits, and a state rule can require it. None of these rows changes what you owe: if the sales made a profit, the profit is reportable either way.

Can you get a 1099-K below the threshold?

Yes. A Form 1099-K for 2025 or 2026 can arrive even when you're under $20,000 and 200 transactions. The IRS says platforms may send one with lower amounts or fewer transactions, and three situations make it likely: you took card payments directly, your state sets a lower threshold, or the platform applied backup withholding to your payouts.

• Card payments. If buyers pay you directly by credit or debit card, the card processor reports those payments at any amount.
• State rules. Some states require forms at lower amounts. eBay says it follows federal and state rules and sends forms to residents of those states (eBay Seller Center).
• Backup withholding. If a platform withheld tax from your payouts, for example because it had no valid tax ID for you, eBay says you'll get a form for that year.

Does the threshold change what you owe?

No. The 1099-K threshold decides when a platform must send a form. It doesn't decide whether your income is taxable, which the reseller tax basics cover. The IRS says that whether or not you receive a Form 1099-K, you must report income from goods you sell, including personal items sold at a gain. If you sold $12,000 on eBay in 2025 and got no form, you still report the profit.

What should you do with a 1099-K you received?

Treat a Form 1099-K as a figure to check, not a tax bill. The gross amount in box 1a isn't adjusted for fees, refunds, shipping, credits, cash equivalents or discounts, and the IRS says you can deduct those from it (IRS). Reconciling a 1099-K to your records walks through it.

If the form is wrong, ask the issuer for a corrected one. The IRS says it can't correct a 1099-K and that you shouldn't wait to file. eBay sellers can see how eBay handles 1099-K corrections.

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