Essentially, we want to monetize transactions with a % fee through a payment handling offering for the merchant on top of our (free) platform. We give them tools to run their business but charging them appropriately for it is difficult since their margins can be thin. We figured that offloading the cost of the platform to their customers would be easier than convincing them to purchase a SaaS subscription.

However, these merchants are reluctant to use this sort of service because if they used it, our platform legally has to report this in a 1099-K to the IRS. Same as any marketplace these days.

As for the referral suggestion, we actually worked with tax professionals in order to do just that. We figured if we personally vetted some tax pros for referrals vs a link to something like H&R Block, it'd help make the difference. It didn't.

(Also, we use Stripe Tax to handle sales tax for the customers who do use the monetized features. They love it!)