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Where do I find what I paid in paypal fees for 2020?

Discovering Your PayPal Fees for 2020: A Guide for Home Sellers

Hello, fellow home sellers and small-scale sellers! If you’ve received a Form 1099-K from PayPal and you’re scratching your head trying to figure out what it all means, you’re not alone. Understanding your tax obligations and finding out exactly what you paid in PayPal fees for 2020 can be a bit of a puzzle, but fear not, this guide will help you navigate the waters and decode the necessary steps to deduct your PayPal fees as allowable expenses.

### What is Form 1099-K?

First things first, a quick overview. The Form 1099-K is a tax document sent by PayPal to the IRS, detailing the gross amount of payments you’ve received through PayPal within a given year. It’s one way the IRS keeps tabs on the income you’re making via online transactions, especially when you reach the $600 threshold in a single transaction.

### Unraveling PayPal Fees

Now, the crucial part: identifying the fees deducted by PayPal. These fees are real deductions from your gross income, and therefore, they can be deducted from your taxable income. To find this information specifically for 2020, here’s what you need to do:

1. **Log into Your PayPal Account**: Head over to the PayPal website, and make sure you log into the correct account where you did your transactions in 2020.

2. **Navigate to Transaction Records**: Once logged in, look up your transaction history for the year 2020. You should see a log of all your transactions for that year.

3. **Identify Fees**: Within this transaction history, you will see the fees PayPal has deducted whenever a transaction took place. It’s usually noted as a separate entry after each transaction or sometimes combined into one.

4. **Generate a Detailed Statement**: Some platform versions or settings offer the option to generate a detailed statement that might highlight the transaction fees that were deducted by PayPal. This document will be useful for tracking down exactly how much you ended up paying in fees.

5. **Save and Organize Your Data**: Once you have the numbers; be sure to save the details in a spreadsheet or a document dedicated to your taxes. This will serve as proof of your total fee expenses for 2020 against your gross income.

### How to Deduct PayPal Fees on Your Taxes

Now that you have a clear picture of the total PayPal fees from 2020, here’s how you can deduct them on your tax return:

– **Schedule C (Form 1040) for business expenses**: If you treat your sales as a business for tax purposes, you can include the PayPal fees under the business expenses section of Schedule C, which is the IRS form used to report income or loss from a business.

– **If considered personal transactions**: Even if your activity doesn’t quite qualify as a business and is considered personal, you are still entitled to claim the transaction fees as a miscellaneous deduction on your tax return. This, however, is subject to the standard deduction or total miscellaneous deductions being over 2% of your adjusted gross income.

### Conclusion

The world of e-commerce and digital transactions has introduced a whole new set of rules for tax season. However, with a bit of digging into your PayPal history and a bit of organization, you can ensure you get a fair representation of what you paid in transaction fees and secure the right deductions on your 2020 tax returns.

Don’t forget, every case is unique, and if you feel overwhelmed, consulting with a tax professional might provide you with customized advice that fits your specific scenario. Stay organized, be thorough, and you’ll likely find the process a bit more manageable.

Happy tax-filing season to all!