Shopify does send Form 1099-K, but only in its role as your payment processor. If your store runs on Shopify Payments, Shopify reports your gross card sales to the IRS and sends you a copy, usually by January 31. If your checkout runs through PayPal, Stripe, or another gateway, the 1099-K comes from that processor instead, and a store using several gateways can receive several 1099-Ks covering different slices of the same revenue.
Shopify Payments, not Shopify the platform
Form 1099-K is filed by payment settlement entities, meaning whoever actually processes and settles the card transactions. Shopify the software company has no reporting duty for your store; Shopify Payments the processor does. This distinction matters when you reconcile: your 1099-K will never match your Shopify sales reports exactly, because it only covers transactions settled through that one processor, and it reports by processing date rather than order date. December orders that settle in January can land in next year's form.
The form lives in your Shopify admin under payouts and documents once issued, and the IRS receives an identical copy. That second part is the point: the IRS computer will expect your tax return to account for at least the gross amount shown.
Gross means gross: refunds and fees are on you
The number in Box 1a is gross transaction volume. Refunds are not subtracted. Chargebacks are not subtracted. Shopify's processing fees are not subtracted. Shipping and sales tax collected at checkout are typically included in the gross too. A store that processed $400,000 in card sales but refunded $40,000 and paid $12,000 in fees still sees the full gross figure on the form.
None of that inflates your actual tax bill as long as your books are right. You report gross receipts, then deduct refunds, fees, cost of goods sold, ad spend, and every other business expense on Schedule C. The 1099-K is an information report, not an invoice. The mistake to avoid is reporting less gross revenue than your combined 1099-Ks show without documentation, which is a common trigger for an IRS notice asking you to explain the gap.
A moving threshold, an unchanged tax bill
The federal 1099-K reporting threshold has changed repeatedly in recent years as Congress and the IRS revised the rules, and several states set their own lower thresholds that force earlier reporting. Do not anchor on any number you read in an old article; check current IRS guidance for the year in question.
More importantly, the threshold only controls whether a form gets filed. Your Shopify income is taxable from the first dollar of profit whether or not a 1099-K ever arrives. Net self-employment earnings of just $400 for the year are enough to require a return with Schedule SE. Sellers below the reporting line still owe tax on their profit; the form is about the IRS's visibility, not your liability.