Payments, cash, cash equivalents, credit, fees, refunds, money, currency, dollars, coins... NOW does everyone see what happens when you throw these loaded terms around?
The 1099 is just the first of the reports that Bitcoiners will need to fill out for being so foolish. Red? Creighto? You guys still around to take responsibility?
Take responsibility for what? Calling something what it is? Regardless, a 1099 would still be required, even when a commodity is being used for said trade. The IRS expects you to report any kind of transaction wherein the trade value, as measured in US currency on the open market, would exceed their arbitrary numbers. It doesn't matter if you are actually trading in US currency, another currency, or a commodity. Not to say that it isn't easier to successfully avoid filing a 1099 if no form of currency is (publicly) traded, but that doesn't apply to Bitcoin anyway. All transactions are public, it's just difficult for anyone to ever be certain what any one person actually has traded. If two tradesmen agreed to trade a new toilet on the electricians house for a new deck light at the plumbers house, they still haven't avoided a taxable event, even though they both might honestly believe that the government has no legitimate say in the matter.