Even though you won't receive a 1099-K form for your Zelle payments, you do need to report your taxable income received through Zelle. The company confirms this on their website. “If payments you receive on the Zelle Network are taxable, it is your responsibility to report them to the IRS,” it says.
If you have more than 200 transactions or $20,000 in taxable income on another service in 2023, the IRS will be able to find out about it through a Form 1099-K sent by that platform. For tax year 2024, the threshold falls to $5,000 in goods and service payments. On Zelle, there's no such reporting requirement.
Zelle, on the other hand, does not hold funds. Instead, they do direct bank transfers between users and these transactions are not subject to the IRS's 1099-K reporting requirements.
If your bank or credit union offers Zelle®, please contact them directly to learn more about their sending and receiving limits through Zelle®. If your bank or credit union does not yet offer Zelle®, your weekly send limit is $500 and your weekly receive limit is $5,000 in the Zelle® app.
Set up a wire transfer
For sending a large amount of money, wire transfers can be a solution. To make a wire transfer, you'll need the recipient's name and address and their bank account and routing numbers. Call, visit or go online with your bank or a trusted wire-transfer company.
Are there any fees to send money using Zelle®? Zelle® doesn't charge a fee to send or receive money. We recommend confirming with your bank or credit union that there are no fees for Zelle® transactions.
Form 1099-K tax reporting: $600 rule
In the last year or so, you may have heard about the “$600 rule.” This refers to situations where payments you receive for goods or services through third-party payment networks and online marketplaces like Venmo, PayPal, Amazon, Square, eBay, Etsy, etc. exceed $600.
FAQs. Can I send $5,000 through Zelle? Most banks have daily sending limits that are less than $5,000. You can split up a $5,000 payment into transactions on multiple days to adhere to their limits.
Under this new reporting rule, if you received over $600 through an online platform, you would get a Form 1099-K, and so would the IRS. By lowering the threshold to $600 and notifying the IRS after one transaction is made, the government is making it harder for taxpayers to avoid paying those taxes.
Nearly every platform, including PayPal and Venmo, make it possible to process transactions as “friends and family” to avoid being accidentally taxed. Zelle, however, does not offer this option. But the good news is that Zelle is not subject to the same reporting laws as third-party payment networks.
Reporting income
P2P payment platforms, including PayPal, Venmo, Stripe, and others, are required to provide information to the IRS about customers who receive payments for the sale of goods and services through those platforms.
Regular users of P2P payment platforms will receive a 1099-K which must be reported to the IRS. It is important to note, even if the P2P does not issue the 1099-K you must still report for income tax purposes all transactions for goods and services over the $600 threshold as income.
Does everyone receive Form 1099-K? If you're wondering does PayPal send 1099-K for Friends and Family transactions, the answer is no. The IRS and PayPal have specific guidelines for when this tax form is issued, and it only applies to sales of goods or services, not personal payments.
What's the IRS $600 payment rule? Under new reporting requirements first announced in the American Rescue Plan, third-party payment apps will eventually be required to report earnings over $600 to the IRS.
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 changed the minimum reporting threshold for certain transactions. The IRS planned to require services like Cash App for Business to report payments for goods and services on Form 1099-K when those transactions total $600 or more in a year, starting January 2022.
Your details stay secure with your bank and are never visible to Zelle. However, the downside to an instant money transfer is that you may be unable to cancel the transaction. That's why you need to know and trust the person you're sending money to.
For Consumer Send Money with Zelle® payments, there is a $10,000 monthly maximum limit. For TD Private Client Group, there is a $30,000 monthly maximum limit.
To generate revenue, Zelle primarily focuses on transaction volume. While the service itself is free for users, Zelle charges a fee to financial institutions for facilitating transactions. This fee is typically a small percentage of the transaction amount, giving Zelle a steady stream of income.
As the IRS continues to work to implement the new law, the agency will treat 2023 as an additional transition year. As a result, reporting will not be required unless the taxpayer receives over $20,000 and has more than 200 transactions in 2023.
What this means. This means that for 2023 and prior years, payment apps and online marketplaces are only required to send out Forms 1099-K to taxpayers who receive over $20,000 and have over 200 transactions. For tax year 2024, the IRS plans for a threshold of $5,000 to phase in reporting requirements.
Businesses that pay more than $600 per year to an independent contractor must complete Form 1099-NEC and provide copies to both the IRS and the freelancer by the specified annual deadline.
However, while Zelle may appear more secure, applications like Venmo and PayPal are just as secure. All of them use data encryption to protect users against unauthorized transactions and store users' data on servers in secure locations. Venmo also offers users the ability to set a PIN code for access to the mobile app.
In general, Zelle is better if the only thing you're looking for is a fast, free way to send money. Venmo can do the same thing, but it takes slightly longer to move money into your bank account unless you pay a fee to speed things up.
No cost. Zelle doesn't charge any fees to send or receive money, and it's unlikely that your bank will charge you a fee to use the service. The company does, however, recommend checking with your bank or credit union to make sure there are no additional fees. Fast money transfers.