Your 1099-K: who issues it, when you get one, and how it reaches you

If your sales on Why Stationery pass a reporting threshold in a calendar year, US law requires that a tax form reporting your gross payments be filed with the IRS and delivered to you. This guide covers who files it, the thresholds, what's in the number, how the form reaches you, and the one date that matters most.

Everything here is the platform's standing policy. Nothing in it changes per shop. It is a plain-English guide, not tax advice — see the last section. Numbers marked (not yet accountant-confirmed) are what Stripe and the IRS publish today; our accountant re-checks them before each tax season.

Who issues your form

Why Stationery issues it, not Stripe. Because Why Stationery is the merchant of record and sets the fees, Stripe treats us — Crater Ink Studios LLC, the company behind Why Stationery — as the filer. The form shows Crater Ink Studios LLC as the filer and you as the payee.

Stripe does the machinery: it generates the form, files it electronically with the IRS, and delivers your copy. But it is our form, and it does not go anywhere until we file it. In practice that means:

• Your details come from Stripe, not from us. The form is built from the legal name, taxpayer ID and address you verified with Stripe. We never see or store your taxpayer ID — Stripe collects and holds it, and the form is populated from their record.
• What we need from you is that you finish it at Stripe. If anything is missing or does not match IRS records, your form cannot be filed, and we will email you about it. That is the only thing we ask.
• The accuracy date is December 31. Whatever is on file at Stripe then is what goes on the form.

We refer to the form as a 1099-K throughout this guide. Whether a marketplace like ours reports on Form 1099-K or a different 1099 series is a question our accountant is confirming; the thresholds and delivery steps below are written for the 1099-K (not yet accountant-confirmed).

Source: https://docs.stripe.com/connect/tax-reporting (Stripe does not issue 1099-Ks where the platform controls pricing; the platform files) · https://docs.stripe.com/connect/get-started-tax-reporting (Stripe's 1099 tax reporting product)

When you get one

You receive a form if your gross payments through Why Stationery in a calendar year meet either the federal threshold or your state's threshold.

Where	Threshold for a 1099-K
Federal (IRS)	More than $20,000 in gross payments and more than 200 transactions — both, in the same year
Arkansas	$2,500
District of Columbia	$600
Illinois	$1,000 and 4 transactions
Maryland	$600
Massachusetts	$600
Montana	$600
New Jersey	$1,000
Rhode Island	$100
Vermont	$600
Virginia	$600
Pennsylvania and all other states	Federal threshold only — no separate state threshold

All figures (not yet accountant-confirmed). Thresholds change; the IRS threshold in particular has moved several times in recent years, and a state can add or change its own. If your state isn't listed, the federal threshold applies. If you sit just under a threshold you don't get a form — but the income is still yours to report.

Receiving a form doesn't mean you owe tax. It reports gross payments, not profit. Your costs, refunds and fees are yours to deduct when you file.

Source: https://docs.stripe.com/connect/1099-K (federal threshold and the state filing-threshold table) · https://docs.stripe.com/connect/tax-reporting (1099-K criteria) · Etsy Help: What Do I Need to Know About My 1099-K Tax Form? ("Receiving a 1099-K form doesn't necessarily mean you'll owe taxes")

What counts toward the number

The 1099-K reports gross payments — the total buyers paid for your orders before anything came off. The IRS requires it to be reported without adjustment, so the figure is larger than what landed in your bank. It generally includes:

• the item price on every order
• shipping the buyer paid
• refunds — they are not subtracted
• cancelled orders that were paid — also not subtracted
• payment processing fees — not subtracted
• sales tax on the order, where it flows through the payment

Whether our platform commission is inside that number is the one thing we have not finished checking, and we would rather say so than print a figure we cannot stand behind. It depends on how Stripe computes the total for a marketplace shaped like ours; we settle it by reading a draft form before the first filing season, and this guide is updated the moment we have. Nothing else on this page is waiting on it. (not yet accountant-confirmed) Whatever the method, it's the same for every seller on the platform and the figure is what the IRS receives.

To reconcile the form against your own records, use two sources together: your Express Dashboard's Reports (Balance summary and Payout reconciliation, any date range, downloadable) for what Stripe moved to you, and your Why Stationery statements at Finances → Statements (/finances/statements) for the platform side — orders, commission, design-fee holds and transfers, which Stripe can't show.

Source: https://docs.stripe.com/connect/calculation-methods (1099-K gross reportable amounts without adjustment for refunds, fees, credits or discounts; refunded charges aren't deducted) · https://www.irs.gov/businesses/understanding-your-form-1099-k · Etsy Help: What Do I Need to Know About My 1099-K Tax Form? ("What is a 1099-K form?" list) · https://docs.stripe.com/connect/express-dashboard (Reports)

How it reaches you

Electronically, by default, from Stripe. Two emails to expect, both from Stripe and both carrying the Why Stationery logo alongside Stripe's:

1. Starting in early November, Stripe emails sellers who are likely to receive a form, asking you to confirm your tax details and agree to paperless delivery. It's a real email and it's worth acting on: confirming early is what stops a wrong address or a mistyped taxpayer ID from ending up on the filed form.
2. In January, Stripe emails you when the form is ready. Forms are filed and delivered by January 31, the IRS deadline.

If you're below every threshold you won't get either email — Stripe only contacts sellers who are due a form.

To download it, open Settings → Payments (/settings/payments) → Manage payouts at Stripe, and go to the tax forms page in your Express Dashboard. You'll be asked for the last four digits of the taxpayer ID as it appears on the form before it downloads — pick the right tax year. If the last four don't match (for example, because you changed your taxpayer ID after the form was prepared), contact us and we'll tell you which ID the form carries or issue a correction.

Paper copy. If you'd rather have it mailed, request a paper copy from the same tax forms page in the Express Dashboard, and make sure the address Stripe holds for you is current. Paper copies go to the address on file with Stripe.

Before Stripe's first email goes out, we'll email you from legal@whystationery.com to say it's coming and which address it will come from, so you can add it to your contacts and the January email doesn't land in spam.

Source: https://docs.stripe.com/connect/express-dashboard-taxes (e-delivery via the Express Dashboard; November pre-filing outreach; the TIN last-four check on download; paper copy requested from the Express Dashboard, mailed to the address on file; email carries both logos) · https://docs.stripe.com/connect/get-started-tax-reporting (November 3 outreach; January 31 IRS delivery deadline) · Etsy Help: What Do I Need to Know About My 1099-K Tax Form? (email-then-download shape; paper opt-out)

Make sure it's right by December 31

Your legal name, taxpayer ID and address must be accurate at Stripe by December 31. That's what goes on the form. Check them in the Express Dashboard (Settings → Payments → Manage payouts at Stripe → Account settings) well before the year ends — and if you're changing your name or taxpayer ID, read the caution in Legal and tax information first, because that change can pause your payouts while Stripe re-verifies you.

Corrections made after December 31 may still reach the form if we haven't filed yet, but there's a hard stop: Stripe stops syncing identity changes onto unfiled forms on February 13, and after we've filed, a change means a corrected form — slower, and only possible once the IRS has accepted the original. A form that's already wrong on December 31 is the situation to avoid.

Source: Etsy Help: What Do I Need to Know About My 1099-K Tax Form? (December 31 accuracy date) · https://docs.stripe.com/connect/express-dashboard-taxes (identity sync stops February 13; corrections only on IRS-accepted forms) · https://docs.stripe.com/connect/get-started-tax-reporting (February 13 identity-sync cutoff)

If you sell under one taxpayer ID in more than one place

Each Why Stationery account has one shop, so most sellers have exactly one Stripe account with us and one form. If the same taxpayer ID ends up on more than one seller account here — say, a second account opened under the same LLC — the IRS requires the totals to be combined when deciding whether you've crossed a threshold. A single account that looks under the line can still be reportable once the totals are added up. You'd receive a form for each account, but eligibility is judged on the sum.

Keep the taxpayer details identical across any accounts that share an ID. Sales you make elsewhere — Etsy, your own site, other marketplaces — are reported by those platforms separately and are not combined with ours.

Source: https://docs.stripe.com/connect/file-tax-forms ("Grouped TIN": filing eligibility is calculated on the aggregate of forms sharing a TIN; each form is filed separately) · Etsy Help: What Do I Need to Know About My 1099-K Tax Form? ("What if I have more than one Etsy shop?")

What we can and can't help with

We can help with:

• a technical problem downloading your form
• confirming which taxpayer ID appears on the form when the last-four check fails
• a form that looks wrong — we'll check the totals against the platform ledger and, if we filed something incorrect, issue a correction
• your Why Stationery statements and CSVs (Finances → Statements) so you can reconcile the gross figure
• where to find a specific number — a fee, a refund, a transfer
• resending Stripe's invitation email, or updating the email address Stripe holds for you if you haven't yet claimed your Express account

We can't help with:

• whether you owe tax, or how much
• what you can deduct
• which entity type you are, or how to read your IRS letter
• your state's rules beyond the threshold table above
• how to report the form on your return, or how to split a year between two taxpayer IDs
• fixing your details with the IRS itself

For anything in the second list, use a tax professional. Email legal@whystationery.com for the first list; balance and payout questions still go to hello@whystationery.com as usual.

Source: Etsy Help: What Do I Need to Know About My 1099-K Tax Form? ("When do I need to talk to a tax professional?" / "Etsy Support can help you with…" — structure adopted) · https://docs.stripe.com/connect/express-dashboard-taxes (platform assists with TIN-on-form confirmation, corrected forms, invitation resend and email updates)

We can't give tax advice

We can explain how the form is produced and how to get it. We can't interpret tax law for your situation, and nothing in this guide should be read as telling you what to file or what you owe. If you're receiving a 1099-K for the first time, the IRS's own page on understanding the form is a good starting point, and a tax professional is the right next step.

Source: Etsy Help: What Do I Need to Know About My 1099-K Tax Form? ("Etsy's not in a position to interpret tax laws and give specific tax advice") · https://www.irs.gov/businesses/understanding-your-form-1099-k