Effective April 26, Guru will no longer facilitate withdrawal of funds via paper checks.

• Guru will still accept payments by check
• Users can still transfer funds out of their Guru cash account by direct deposit (U.S. bank accounts only), PayPal, prepaid MasterCard and wire transfer (non-U.S. bank accounts only).

Why we will no longer facilitate withdrawals via paper check?

Two reasons. 1. Only a handful of users (less than 2%) withdraw funds out of their Guru cash account by check. Most users are using electronic methods to withdraw funds  2. Electronic withdrawals are much faster and more reliable.

If you haven’t already registered and confirmed an alternative method for fund withdrawal, please do so at your earliest convenience. To learn more about alternative methods for fund withdrawals, please select from the links listed below.

Freelancers

• Direct Deposit (U.S. bank accounts only)
• PayPal
• Prepaid MasterCard
• Wire Transfer (non-U.S. bank accounts only)

Employers

• E-check (U.S. bank accounts only)
• PayPal

Lauren

With the federal observance of Presidents’ Day in the U.S. on Monday, Feb 18, payments made by Prepaid MasterCard, direct deposit or wire transfer may be delayed in reaching you. Although Guru is open our regular hours and will be processing payments as usual, all U.S. banks are closed on this date.
Please be mindful of the potential for payment delays as you coordinate with your Employers on any upcoming transactions.

Lauren

We are continuing to work with engineers at Amazon and Microsoft. Various theories are being pursed to get to the root cause of the instability in the performance of our website. Your patience is much appreciated.

For those of you who have a technical curiosity,  there seems to be a communication problem between the load-balancer and our web servers. While trying to ascertain which web server has capacity to take on a new user, the load-balancer is marking the web server as inactive. Why this communication is breaking down remains the subject of investigation. Overall, the problem is a bit more complex and cannot be resolved by taking a couple of machines out of service, so the disruptions.

With your patience and support, we will certainly get through this challenge.

Lauren

The Guru.com website was moved to the Amazon cloud at 1:30 pm on February 10. Since the move we have been experiencing intermittent problems with our service.

Our engineers are working around the clock to restore our service to the standards you expect. We will keep you posted of our progress.

Your patience is appreciated.

Lauren

The Guru.com website will be unavailable on Sunday, February 10, between 7:00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. EST.

To improve site performance, and more importantly to create capacity that will allow us to deliver some very exciting features in 2013, we are moving Guru.com to the Amazon Web Services cloud.  We expect this move to be accomplished in approximately 6 hours, during which time our services will be unavailable.  Your patience during this outage will be appreciated.

While our website may be moving to the clouds, our hearts and minds remain very much grounded.  As always, we are very excited to improve our service to match your growing needs.  Thank you for the opportunity!

Lauren

With the federal observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the U.S. on Monday, January 21, payments made by Prepaid MasterCard, direct deposit or wire transfer may be delayed in reaching you. Although Guru is open our regular hours and will be processing payments as usual, most U.S. banks are closed on this date.

Please be mindful of the potential for payment delays as you coordinate with your Employers on any upcoming transactions.

Lauren

All 1099-MISC Tax Forms have been posted to Guru.com for qualifying Freelancers.

Tax season will be here before you know it – but you can view your 1099-MISC Form today to get started on your tax filing.

It is your responsibility to report your 1099-MISC earnings to the IRS.

To view or print your 1099-MISC Form:

• Log into your Guru.com Account.
• On your Dashboard, find the “Payments & Feedback” section on the right side bar.
• Click the “1099 Tax Forms” link.

Which Freelancers Qualify for a 1099-MISC Form?

All of the following conditions must be met to receive a 1099-MISC Form:

• You received payment from an Employer who uses Guru.com’s free 1099 service
• You completed a W-9 form with a valid U.S. social security number (SSN)
• You reside within the U.S. and,
• You received payments through Guru.com totaling $600 or more in 2012.

Please contact an accountant or tax firm if you have any questions about your tax filing.

Lauren

Just a friendly reminder, 1099 Service Reports are available to review. Action may be required.

If you paid one or more Freelancers through Guru in 2012 and you opted into Guru’s free 1099 service, you can now review your complimentary 1099 Service Report online.

You are not obligated to share the information in your 1099 Service Report with the IRS. However, on January 15, Guru will submit the information to the IRS and to applicable Freelancers on your behalf.

If your 1099 Service Report requires a correction, please notify Guru by this Friday, January 11 at 5:00 pm (ET).

To view your 1099 Service Report:

• Sign in to your Guru.com Account.
• On your Dashboard, find the “Payments & Feedback” section in the right side bar.
• Click the “1099 Service Reports” link.
• Click the “2012 Report” link.

Guru.com provides 1099 Service Reports as a courtesy to Employers. Learn how to subscribe

Lauren

1099-MISC tax forms will be available Tuesday, January 15, 2013.

On January 15, Guru.com will issue 1099-MISC tax forms to all qualifying U.S. Freelancers.
To qualify for receipt of a 1099-MISC form, all of the following must be true:

• You received payment from an Employer who uses Guru.com’s free 1099 tax service;
• You completed a W-9 form with a valid U.S. social security number (SSN);
• You reside within the U.S. and
• You received payments through Guru.com SafePay totaling $600 or more in 2012.

It is your responsibility to report 1099-MISC earnings to the IRS.

If you have questions about your tax filing, please contact an accountant or tax firm for assistance.

Lauren

Change requests for 1099 Service Reports are due Friday, January 11 (5:00 p.m. EST).

Please review your 1099 Service Report and notify us if any corrections are needed by January 11.

On January 15, Guru.com will submit your information to the IRS and to applicable Freelancers on your behalf. You are not obligated to resubmit your 1099 Service Report information to the IRS.

To view your 1099 Service Report:

• Log into your Guru.com Account.
• On your Dashboard, find the “Payments & Feedback” section on the right side bar.
• Click the “1099 Service Reports” link.
• Click the “2012 Report” link.

Guru.com provides 1099 Service Reports as a courtesy to Employers. Learn how to subscribe

Lauren