Have you ever received some money through a GoFundMe campaign or Venmo or CashApp transfers after a medical emergency, natural disaster or other crisis?
您是否曾在医疗紧急情况、自然灾害或其他危机后通过 GoFundMe 活动或 Venmo 或 CashApp 转账收到过一些资金？
If so, you may have also gotten an unwelcome surprise: a federal tax form that treats what you got as a gift as if it were earned income . And receiving this form can also affect your state tax return.
如果是这样，您可能还会得到一个不受欢迎的惊喜：联邦税表将您收到的礼物视为收入。 收到此表格也会影响您的州纳税申报表。
We are researchers at Indiana University’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy . Together, we study how the tax system treats charitable crowdfunding – and sometimes harms people who get help that way.
我们是印第安纳大学礼来家族慈善学院的研究人员。 我们一起研究税收制度如何对待慈善众筹——有时会伤害以这种方式获得帮助的人。
Also known as monetary mutual aid , charitable crowdfunding refers to need-based gifts that one person gives another.
慈善众筹也称为货币互助，是指一个人根据需要向另一个人赠送礼物。
It may sound simple, but many practical issues arise when reporting rules designed for commercial transactions inadvertently treat these transfers as taxable income.
这听起来可能很简单，但当为商业交易设计的报告规则无意中将这些转移视为应税收入时，就会出现许多实际问题。
We have analyzed Internal Revenue Service reporting rules , federal case law and community-based mutual aid practices to better understand how tax policies can affect people who get money directly from others, given to them as charity.
我们分析了国税局的报告规则、联邦判例法和基于社区的互助实践，以更好地了解税收政策如何影响那些直接从他人那里获得资金（以慈善形式提供给他们）的人。
In the cases we examined, recipients were not selling goods or services. Yet payment platforms frequently issued tax forms to the recipients without distinguishing between payments tied to earned income and money received as crisis-related support.
在我们研究的案例中，接收者并未销售商品或服务。 然而，支付平台经常向收款人发放纳税表格，而没有区分与赚取收入相关的付款和作为危机相关支持收到的资金。
Through mutual aid , people can help meet the needs of others, typically outside formal nonprofit or government systems – meaning that such giving tends to bypass established charities. It tends to be community-driven and often emerges when institutional support is delayed, insufficient or inaccessible.
通过互助，人们可以帮助满足他人的需求，通常是在正式的非营利组织或政府系统之外——这意味着这种捐赠往往会绕过既定的慈善机构。 它往往是社区驱动的，并且经常在机构支持延迟、不足或无法获得时出现。
During the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent disasters, mutual aid surged . For example, studies indicate that at the start of the pandemic, approximately 50 documented mutual aid groups existed across the United States.
在 COVID-19 大流行和随后的灾难期间，互助激增。 例如，研究表明，在大流行开始时，美国各地存在大约 50 个有记录的互助团体。
By May 2020, that number had grown to over 800 , with networks established in nearly every U.S. state.
到 2020 年 5 月，这个数字已增长到 800 多个，几乎在美国每个州都建立了网络。
These groups provided food, rental assistance, medical supplies and direct cash support when formal systems, such as government programs and nonprofit agencies, faltered.
当政府项目和非营利机构等正式系统出现问题时，这些团体提供食品、租金援助、医疗用品和直接现金支持。
Research from the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy’s Women’s Philanthropy Institute found that during the first year of the pandemic, most Americans who gave money did not donate primarily to official charities . Instead, they gave directly to people in need or to informal groups using crowdfunding platforms, such as GoFundMe, and money-transfer apps like Venmo and CashApp.
礼来家族慈善学院女性慈善研究所的研究发现，在大流行的第一年，大多数捐款的美国人主要不是向官方慈善机构捐款。 相反，他们使用 GoFundMe 等众筹平台以及 Venmo 和 CashApp 等汇款应用程序直接向有需要的人或非正式团体捐款。
We’ve found that the tax code has not kept pace with the rapid growth of digitally mediated, peer-to-peer giving on a large scale.
我们发现，税法并没有跟上大规模数字化点对点捐赠的快速增长。
Crowdfunding platforms now facilitate billions of dollars in transfers each year, and peer-to-peer payment apps process hundreds of billions more in transactions. Unfortunately, reporting rules originally designed to detect business income are increasingly applied to individuals who receive crisis-related financial support.
众筹平台现在每年促成数十亿美元的转账，而点对点支付应用程序则处理数千亿美元的交易。 不幸的是，最初旨在检测业务收入的报告规则越来越多地适用于接受危机相关财务支持的个人。
Due to changes to federal tax reporting rules that Congress approved in 2021, payment platforms, including Venmo, CashApp, PayPal and any other platforms used for transacting funds, had to issue 1099-K forms to any Americans who received more than US$600 in payments. The 1099-K is a tax document that reports payments a person receives through third-party platforms to the IRS.
由于国会于 2021 年批准的联邦税务报告规则发生变化，支付平台（包括 Venmo、CashApp、PayPal 和用于交易资金的任何其他平台）必须向任何收到超过 600 美元付款的美国人发放 1099-K 表格。 1099-K 是一份税务文件，用于向 IRS 报告个人通过第三方平台收到的付款。
Lawmakers made this change to improve tax compliance in the gig economy – by making sure that Americans were paying taxes on the taxable income they earn by driving for Lyft, walking dogs and doing other kinds of side hustles.
立法者做出这一改变是为了改善零工经济的税收合规性——确保美国人为他们通过为 Lyft 开车、遛狗和从事其他副业而获得的应税收入纳税。
A provision in the large tax-reform-and-spending package that President Donald Trump signed into law on July 4, 2025, restored the federal 1099-K reporting threshold for payment apps like Venmo to the prior standard: over $20,000 in gross payments and more than 200 transactions.
唐纳德·特朗普总统于 2025 年 7 月 4 日签署成为法律的大型税收改革和支出一揽子计划中的一项条款，将 Venmo 等支付应用程序的联邦 1099-K 报告门槛恢复到之前的标准：支付总额超过 20,000 美元，交易超过 200 笔。
While this change is likely to make a difference, especially since it’s retroactive to 2021, confusion persists.
虽然这一变化可能会产生影响，特别是考虑到它可以追溯至 2021 年，但混乱仍然存在。
For one thing, people can still receive tax forms in some states, including Maryland, Massachusetts, Vermont and Virginia, that have continued to require that people getting less than $20,000 be issued 1099-K forms.
一方面，在一些州，人们仍然可以收到纳税表格，包括马里兰州、马萨诸塞州、佛蒙特州和弗吉尼亚州，这些州继续要求收入低于 20,000 美元的人发放 1099-K 表格。
There are still cases where mutual aid recipients may have to document that the money they’ve gotten from people trying to help them was a gift, not earned income.
在某些情况下，互助接受者可能必须证明他们从试图帮助他们的人那里得到的钱是礼物，而不是赚取的收入。
And when someone gets very ill or their house burns down, legitimate fundraising through mutal monetary aid can exceed $20,000.
当有人病重或房屋被烧毁时，通过货币互助的合法筹款可能会超过 20,000 美元。
For example, roughly 250,000 campaigns are created each year on GoFundMe for medical costs; studies have found that campaigns related to cancer seek $20,000 in gifts on average.
例如，每年在 GoFundMe 上发起大约 250,000 个针对医疗费用的活动；研究发现，与癌症相关的活动平均寻求 20,000 美元的礼物。
Following the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires, the median amount that vetted, individual fundraisers raised through GoFundMe topped $25,000 , with several instances where they brought in hundreds of thousands of dollars .
2025 年洛杉矶山火之后，经审查，通过 GoFundMe 筹集的个人筹款金额中位数超过 25,000 美元，其中有几次筹集了数十万美元。
If someone receives a 1099-K for funds that were provided as gifts rather than payments, tax experts generally recommend keeping clear documentation of the transfers and consulting a tax professional about how to properly report the amount so it is not treated as taxable income.
如果某人收到 1099-K 的资金是作为礼物而不是付款提供的，税务专家通常建议保留清晰的转账文件，并咨询税务专业人士如何正确报告该金额，以免将其视为应税收入。
Mutual aid isn’t gig work , so the tax code shouldn’t treat them the same. Getting multiple $50 gifts through a GoFundMe campaign to help you contend with a crisis brought on by your husband’s stroke is not the same as earning the equivalent driving for Uber.
互助不是零工，所以税法不应该对他们一视同仁。 通过 GoFundMe 活动获得多份 50 美元的礼物来帮助您应对丈夫中风带来的危机，这与获得同等的 Uber 驾驶资格不同。
The Internal Revenue Code excludes gifts from your taxable income , although the person donating needs to pay taxes if they give someone more than a certain amount – currently $19,000 per year.
《国内税收法》将礼物排除在您的应税收入之外，但如果捐赠者给予某人的金额超过一定金额（目前为每年 19,000 美元），则需要纳税。
But U.S. courts have historically interpreted what constitutes a gift narrowly. In a 1960 U.S. Supreme Court case , an opinion from a seven-justice majority defined gifts as arising from “detached and disinterested generosity.”
但美国法院历来对礼物的构成进行了狭隘的解释。 在 1960 年美国最高法院的一个案件中，七位大法官的多数意见将礼物定义为“超然且无私的慷慨”。
That standard works when your uncle cuts you a birthday check. But it’s not a good fit for today’s collective, need-based giving that’s often coordinated through online platforms and often involves the transfer of funds among people who have never met.
当你叔叔给你开一张生日支票时，这个标准就起作用了。 但这不太适合当今基于需求的集体捐赠，这种捐赠通常通过在线平台进行协调，并且经常涉及在素未谋面的人之间转移资金。
Research shows that mutual aid disproportionately supports low-income households , undocumented families, people with disabilities and communities of color. These same groups are more likely to face heightened scrutiny from financial platforms and tax authorities, and are less likely to have access to tax or legal assistance .
研究表明，互助不成比例地支持低收入家庭、无证家庭、残疾人和有色人种社区。 这些群体更有可能面临金融平台和税务机关的严格审查，并且不太可能获得税收或法律援助。
In examining tax enforcement research alongside our findings, we found evidence that expanded reporting requirements may have amplified existing racial and economic inequities. And there could be serious consequences for the recipients of monetary mutual aid. Simply receiving a tax form can jeopardize their eligibility for some government benefits because it may suggest to the authorities that someone’s income is too high to need them.
在审查税务执法研究以及我们的发现时，我们发现了证据表明扩大报告要求可能会加剧现有的种族和经济不平等。 这可能会给货币互助的接受者带来严重后果。 仅仅收到纳税表格就可能会危及他们享受某些政府福利的资格，因为这可能会向当局表明某人的收入太高而不需要他们。
Without clearer guidance, people who are already facing a crisis may be penalized for receiving help. Research on informal giving suggests that when reporting rules are unclear, individual donors may become more hesitant to send money directly to someone who needs it.
如果没有更明确的指导，已经面临危机的人们可能会因为接受帮助而受到惩罚。 对非正式捐赠的研究表明，当报告规则不明确时，个人捐赠者可能会更加犹豫是否直接向需要的人汇款。
As charitable crowdfunding continues to grow, the issue is not only how platforms such as Venmo or GoFundMe report transactions. Clearer guidance from the IRS about how need-based, noncommercial transfers should be treated could reduce the risk that emergency support is mischaracterized as income.
随着慈善众筹持续增长，问题不仅仅在于 Venmo 或 GoFundMe 等平台如何报告交易。 美国国税局就如何处理基于需求的非商业转移提供更清晰的指导，可以降低紧急支持被错误地描述为收入的风险。
Shelly Tygielski founded the Pandemic of Love mutual aid movement.
雪莉·泰吉尔斯基 (Shelly Tygielski) 创立了“流行病之爱”互助运动。