What changed
The IRS published FAQs (news release IR-2025-107) explaining that the One, Big, Beautiful Bill retroactively restored the older Form 1099-K threshold. Payment settlement organisations, such as payment apps and processors, have to file a 1099-K only when a person’s payments in a year exceed $20,000 and the number of transactions exceeds 200.
That replaces the much lower thresholds that had been scheduled after the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which would have caught far more people. The IRS’s other guidance, which we already cite, is that all income is taxable unless the law specifically excludes it, whether or not a form is issued.
When
IRS newsroom release dated Oct 23, 2025. This post is more than 90 days old and is kept as background, because the threshold still applies to 2026 payments.
Who is affected
US referrers who take referral rewards as cash. Starlink’s terms say cash rewards go through a third-party payment processor, which is the kind of business 1099-K rules cover.
What it means for you
Even an active referrer is very unlikely to reach $20,000 and 200 payments a year from $100 rewards, so a 1099-K from the payment processor for referral cash alone is unlikely under these rules. That isn’t the end of the question. The terms say rewards come with no tax included or withheld and that the referrer decides whether tax is owed, and they describe rewards as promotional incentives, not wages or commissions.
A different form, the 1099-MISC, has its own threshold; see our separate post. Whether SpaceX or its processor issues either form for referral cash is something we haven’t been able to confirm.
What to do now
Keep a simple record of each referral reward: date, amount, and whether it came as credit or cash. Our taxes page lists what the terms and IRS pages say. This is not tax advice; ask a tax professional about your own situation.
What stays the same
The referral terms’ tax wording, the reward amount, and the IRS position that income is taxable whether or not a form is issued.
What we don’t know yet
Whether Starlink’s payment processor files 1099-Ks or 1099-MISCs for referral cash at all, and how service credits are treated. Both are marked unverified in our facts.
How to check it yourself
The IRS release is IR-2025-107, dated Oct 23, 2025, in the IRS newsroom. The IRS page “Understanding your Form 1099-K” has the current thresholds. Your own records are the other half: the Referrals section of your Starlink account and your bank statements show each reward and its date.