Well, I guess it *could* depend on how Yahoo reports it. They may report it as Jan/Feb earnings - which is screwy, and most companies wouldn't do it that way as it doesn't really reflect the true nature of what transpired. The "work" you performed took place in December. I doubt if there is a single business in the country that is able to pay its employees all that they owe them by midnight on December 31st. Even a restaurant, where most of your money comes from tips, still has to give you a pay check a few weeks later. In any case, Yahoo makes a point of saying that YOU are responsible for reporting your taxes. I don't know if this means they won't be reporting your individual earnings to the IRS or not. It looks like Google gives you a w-2 form. Don't know if Yahoo would do this or not. If Yahoo reports your earnings, then the easiest thing to do would be to make it match with what they report. However, I think you could legitimately claim it to be 2005 earnings even if Yahoo claims it to be 2006 earnings (again - Yahoo would be the one with the screwy accounting practices and Yahoo would be the one who would need to sweat the IRS if it ever came to that).
Actually, it's not logical at all. (not grantmd .... but yahoo) I think we've already established that Yahoo reps will give you different answers depending on who you call. That happens everywhere, so no surprise there. But I believe most companies wouldn't ever consider counting November and December's work as work done in Jan and Feb. They can actually get in big trouble for doing this. Take this as a hypothetical example: Let's say you have a webmaster that has Yahoo ads. This webmaster happens to die in the middle of December. The webmaster's family shuts down his business and nothing of the man or his business continues to exist. Yahoo, according to the rep that grantmd talked to, would say that this DEAD webmaster was working on their behalf in Jan and Feb. Do you really think that the IRS would allow any company to claim that they had deadmen on their payroll? If the IRS allowed that, do you realize what ANY company could get away with? As I said before, Yahoo may report things this way, but if they do, it doesn't reflect what actually transpired, and therefore it ain't going to be kosher with the IRS.
Of course it is "kosher" with the IRS. It's called the cash method of accounting and is GAAP. Under the cash method, income is not counted until cash (or a check) is actually received, and expenses are not counted until actually paid.
Exactly. Technically, I could file my 2005 taxes today with the IRS. To do that, I need to know my income in 2005. At this point, I don't know exacty how much I *earned* in 2005 from Yahoo, because they can change the amounts up to the point where they cut the check. I do, however, know how much I was *paid* in 2005 from Yahoo. Because of this disparity of when I can start filing my 2005 taxes (Jan 1st), and when Yahoo actually will tell me how much I earned in 2005 (mid-Feb for December's check), it makes more sense to use the cash method of accounting.
I had a negative amount in the available balance, and then it turns to $0 but I don't see any pending check yet in the payment report yet, is this normal?
Well, that goes to show you how much I know about accounting. In all my work life I had never experienced this type of situation, but I suppose this type of situation is a little different from most.
My available balance is also 0.00. The total though is xxx. Hope to get most of it after the audit. st12
Hope this puts the nail in the right place ........ Checks dated in 2005 will be reported in 2005. This means that unpaid earnings from 2005 that are rolled over to 2006 will not be included. For example, December earnings which are paid in January of 2006 will not be included as earnings for 2005....... This should answer the IRS relate question. st12
Hello It shows available balance is 0 and it shows check pending without check number the ammount I earned from november what does that mean ?> It means this check on its way or I didn't get approved yet Thanks
It means they haven't updated the check date. Last month, I received my check before they updated it. They are still in beta, so don't read anything into it. They may or may not have actually sent the check. It isn't technically due until the 15th, but in the past they have sent them sooner.
Son of a.... Got my tax info from YPN today, and they included earnings from December 2005 in, even though they told me (and others) that they would not (since those earnings won't be paid until 2006). This totally hoses my estimated tax payments that I've been making. Thanks Yahoo!