Paypal wants more info from me because of anti-money laundering law. Pls help!!

[JackW]

I have a personal EU account with them. I have no business yet cause what I made online was always just enough to pay my bills and for some bred and butter. But the payments I got into my paypal account adding up to several thousand euros for the past 2 years (I'm doing mainly PPC advertising and have huge expenses).
There is now a specific amount reached where "paypal is required by law to comply with european union anti-money laundering regulations to collect information from customers when they receive more than this specific amount in total payments".

Paypal requests from me to enter my business type and what I'm doing online exactly (business type, date business established, category of business, average transaction price, average monthly volume, sales venue like ebay, own website or other). But like written above I don't have a business registered yet and if I would register one now I would have to pay some taxes for the past 2 years, but I have no money. I had always just enough money to keep my apartment and to buy some (cheap) food.

They wrote me when I have completed the required items one of their account specialists will review this case again and will send me an email with the outcome of this review. But I fear that they will (or are required) to send this case straight to my tax office.

Does anyone of you got a request like this from paypal before? What have you done? Will they pass all my informations to my tax office? Or is it more an internal assurance for them if there will be ever a need for these informations in the future?

I appreciate any help!

[Dusen]

I really hate to read threads like this, simply ignoring taxes rarely works.

I would approach the government BEFORE they find you and look to cut a deal for the back taxes, if they do that in Europe. Don't try to weasel your way out of it, you will get stung in the end.

[Webasic]

sounds messy

[JackW]

Basically it was not my intention to ignore taxes. I was always hoping to get this little business off the feets to make more money than I need to survive. I had to suffer from serious setbacks and I never had a penny left to pay taxes.

[12clicks]

living in a socialist economy sucks don't it?

[Dusen]

Originally posted by JackW
Basically it was not my intention to ignore taxes. I was always hoping to get this little business off the feets to make more money than I need to survive. I had to suffer from serious setbacks and I never had a penny left to pay taxes.

I'm sorry to hear that . I would talk to a tax lawyer or accountant, I think he would suggest you to get a loan or line of credit to cover the taxes, I would think that would be a first step.

That having been said, I have no idea if Paypal would report you. It's questionable.

[{fusion}]

there just another fraudulent company.

you will probably have your account limited soon.

i suggest moneybookers.com if your in the EU

[JackW]

Originally posted by {fusion}
there just another fraudulent company.

you will probably have your account limited soon.

That would be no problem, I wouldn't care at all.
Important for me is how to act now, what to tell them (fill in the fields). And will they report me or not.

[Magg]

THey wont report you.. it is just for their sake incase the govt. questions them.. you should be fine...


The only thing you should be worried about is whether or not theyll let you have the money... those motherfuckers.

[strobi]

If you're in the EU, they won't report you,ever. It's not up to them to report taxes but up to you. They'll never ever going to contact your countries tax office. What are they going to report? They don't have the smallest idea what that money was used for, expenses,income,....

[Furious_Male]

Originally posted by JackW
Basically it was not my intention to ignore taxes. I was always hoping to get this little business off the feets to make more money than I need to survive. I had to suffer from serious setbacks and I never had a penny left to pay taxes.

If you are doing PPC advertising get together all your receipts for your advertising budget. If you paid out as much as you made and have hard evidence and keep good records you should be ok. Your starting a business and just breaking even. I am sure there are some taxes involved (and penalty if you failed to pay for many years) but you shouldn't have to pay taxes on all that income.

I am relating to US law though. I am not sure how this works in your country.

[JackW]

Originally posted by Magg
THey wont report you.. it is just for their sake incase the govt. questions them.. you should be fine...


The only thing you should be worried about is whether or not theyll let you have the money... those motherfuckers.

There is nearly no money on this account anymore. I slidely stopped using them because of all the rumor in the past months.

But the problem is I don't know what to enter in the fields, if I enter suspicious information will they report me? What makes sence for them to close this case, which informations lead to further inspectations, whats wrong, whats right.
Damn, this sucks so hard...

[JackW]

Originally posted by strobi
If you're in the EU, they won't report you,ever. It's not up to them to report taxes but up to you. They'll never ever going to contact your countries tax office. What are they going to report? They don't have the smallest idea what that money was used for, expenses,income,....

they can report that the total payments I recieved is above the specified limit for anti-money laundering. IF they report it I think it's enough for my tax office to ask painful questions.

[AnalProbe]

I can help.

There are mainly 4 things you must do immediately.

1. Empty all accounts before they block access, or put your account on hold. Even the small amounts, like $0.06 needs to be nulled, I'll tell you how. Exchange your last dollars for yens or pounds, and exchange back. Everytime you do, you "pay" for the exchange, which ultimately leaves you with $0.00. Do this with all currencies you have an account for.

2. Inform your CC company you want another CC with a new number and block your current card. That way Paypal has a non-valid card in their database which is worthless. They can't block your new card or give details to the authorities because they don't know the details.

3. Login to your account, and choose to terminate the account. Confirm this by clicking the automated email you receive, login again and change your personal data to =piece of crap= a few times, logout, and never come back.

4. =BACKUP THIS TERMINATION EMAIL IN A SECURE PLACE=

Don't call, mail or FAX them EVER.

Point of all this is, you're not a client anymore, or at least you have given instructions to terminate the account. If they didn't let you terminate, you can say the account was empty, something a judge will always ask in this case.

They are required to file these things for REAL CLIENTS, with ACTIVE accounts.

As I said, I'd help you out.

[mardigras]

Originally posted by JackW
they can report that the total payments I recieved is above the specified limit for anti-money laundering. IF they report it I think it's enough for my tax office to ask painful questions.

Since you said there is hardly any money in the account I wouldn't worry about PayPal. Close the account if you are unable or unwilling to give them the information they ask for.

If your tax office comes knocking about your paypal account tell them that PayPay is a questionable company as a simple search on the internet will reveal

[Nysus]

I would figure you wouldn't have too much tax to pay if you were putting most of the money back in?

Figure out what you're personal income was over the past two years, and then decide what the best course of action is..

Cheers,
Matt

[Basic_man]

Another one OWN3D by paypal! :S

[Magg]

dude, they WONT report you now stop freaking and get on wiht your life, you dont even have to answer paypal for fucks sake.


They WONT report you. Period. Move on.

[JackW]

AnalProbe and mardigras:

thanks, but my account is "under review" until I provide them with the required information. While on review its not possible to terminate an account (they already wrote this in the "review" email). "Failure to respond with the requested information in the given time frame may result in the escalation of this issue." they also wrote in this email, I don't know what they mean exactly.


@ AnalProbe
even if I change all my contact information and block my cc they have all informations on their files. They keep everything forever, contact informations, when you get payments, the amount of payments, from which sites these payments came, they even log all sites within the paypal doamin that you have ever visited. I read about it in their TOS somewhere. I doubt it will help to erase my contact details, they'll still have them on file. Or do you have other experience, please?

[pussyluver]

Originally posted by 12clicks
living in a socialist economy sucks don't it?

Then the good ole USA would be a socialist economy too.

Sucks doesn't it.

[JackW]

Originally posted by Magg
dude, they WONT report you now stop freaking and get on wiht your life, you dont even have to answer paypal for fucks sake.


They WONT report you. Period. Move on.

"Failure to respond with the requested information in the given time frame may result in the escalation of this issue." That makes me thinking that they will probably start something...

[Slinx]

Go to a tax advisor and tell him your problem. If he says that you are fucked, looking for a better one

[AnalProbe]

Originally posted by JackW
@ AnalProbe
even if I change all my contact information and block my cc they have all informations on their files. They keep everything forever, contact informations, when you get payments, the amount of payments, from which sites these payments came, they even log all sites within the paypal doamin that you have ever visited. I read about it in their TOS somewhere. I doubt it will help to erase my contact details, they'll still have them on file. Or do you have other experience, please?

That's why i said X times.

Don't know if you're into scripting, but it's not that hard to change contact info 50.000 times (with pauses between the requests).

This also counts for the "exchanging" of the different currencies, which can take about a few 100 transaction to get $ 0.00

Their logfile is not unlimited, and even if it is, it makes clear you want to get rid of the account if someone asks later. They can't force you to have an account if there's no money and valid cart in it.

About the "escalation" thing, that's just to scare you, the only reason is they want your info. NEVER EVER give any info after this stage.

They don't want to close your account ?

Ok.

You will cost them money then.

No money, no transactions, no cc, no contact.

Do what I told you, take a deep breath and enjoy life.

FEAR

[JackW]

Originally posted by AnalProbe
That's why i said X times.

Don't know if you're into scripting, but it's not that hard to change contact info 50.000 times (with pauses between the requests).

puh, I'll see, idea is good.



"About the "escalation" thing, that's just to scare you, the only reason is they want your info. NEVER EVER give any info after this stage."

You mean providing them with any information can harm me further? It's better not to give them anything?



"Do what I told you, take a deep breath and enjoy life."
FEAR

thanks, I'll try

[AnalProbe]

Originally posted by JackW
You mean providing them with any information can harm me further? It's better not to give them anything?

100%

[JackW]

Originally posted by AnalProbe
100%

wow, thats interesting. thanks.

[Project-Shadow]

I got the exact same e-mail.
During the period of review you cannot close your account.

What I suggest is opening an e-bay account and selling something insignificant, like an e-book or a blank CD, so they can relate to that.

Paypal'ers that use e-bay alot get away with shit loads more thank an average "Paypal'er"

[tony286]

Know one thing , the Govt really starts cracking down on porn. Going after tax evaders is one of their favorite things and I tell you all these sponsor that used to pay with paypal or now use epassporte might have problems.

[McSpike]

Originally posted by 12clicks
living in a socialist economy sucks don't it?

haha what a moron. mhahaha... EU socialistic. wetting my panties what a dumbass you are, proving it with every post you make on this board. an ignorant fool.

[McSpike]

Originally posted by tony404
Know one thing , the Govt really starts cracking down on porn. Going after tax evaders is one of their favorite things and I tell you all these sponsor that used to pay with paypal or now use epassporte might have problems.

yes you are the expert. all speculations. if, if, if... govt will never do shit about porn. they are fucking uncapable of doing anything.

what is right for them to do is nail the pedos, all the rest is allowed and they won't touch it simply because others won't. US doesn't make the net. the whole world does.

[JackW]

Originally posted by Project-Shadow
I got the exact same e-mail.
During the period of review you cannot close your account.

Is iyour account being reviewed also because of anti-money laundering laws? Or because of something else?
Do you give them the requested informations?

[Slinx]

Bump

[Mike-BP]

Just pay your taxes dude. It doesn't mean you don't have to pay them cause you made the money on the internet.

Just to be sure, did you get this information in an email? If so, did you double check the source code to make sure it wasn't a Paypal scam?

Would be pretty funny if you were getting all worked up over this and it turned out to just be someone trying to steal your login info and personal information.

Just a thought. I thought I would mention it because I just received another one of those emails a few minutes ago. The fuckers even had the nerve to hotlink images from paypal.

[sweandy]

Talk to a achahahahaant and the tax gov. before they contact you. Much cheaper and better.

If they catch you on not paying taxes it's the original amount due + interest + fees + fines and if it's alot money it goes to the attorney and worst case jail.

So do this before they check you. Or maybe they already do this. They can check you up for years before they hit you.

Can also be tax gov. that contacted paypal due to taxes and paypal set you on a flag for this or something.

+ Don't take advises from amatuer GFY laywers and achahahahaants.

[JackW]

Originally posted by evildick
Just to be sure, did you get this information in an email? If so, did you double check the source code to make sure it wasn't a Paypal scam?

Would be pretty funny if you were getting all worked up over this and it turned out to just be someone trying to steal your login info and personal information.

Just a thought. I thought I would mention it because I just received another one of those emails a few minutes ago. The fuckers even had the nerve to hotlink images from paypal.

I got it in an email, but it's no spam, It's also printed in my paypal account. Real paypal domain, https:// and so.

[JackW]

Originally posted by sweandy
Talk to a achahahahaant and the tax gov. before they contact you. Much cheaper and better.

If they catch you on not paying taxes it's the original amount due + interest + fees + fines and if it's alot money it goes to the attorney and worst case jail.

So do this before they check you. Or maybe they already do this. They can check you up for years before they hit you.

Can also be tax gov. that contacted paypal due to taxes and paypal set you on a flag for this or something.

+ Don't take advises from amatuer GFY laywers and achahahahaants.

The problem is, if you make a deal with the tax gov for past taxes you must have the money you owe them. Otherwise they will not do it. Somewhere I read about this, not sure if its correct. And I rarely have money at the moment. I didn't spent much in the past years, its just enough to live.