Are your taxes in order? eBay now sending sales data to HMRC

[myriad*seller]

From 1st January 2024 eBay will be legally required to give all sales data to HMRC, so business sellers not paying taxes and/or masquerading as private sellers on eBay will soon be a thing of the past

Plus it will be interesting for all the sellers that now have to declare previous years turnover and pay back taxes and penalties...

This isn't the usual "HMRC are clamping down on sellers" line they use to scare people (but never actually do anything), this is a whole new digital computer system and reporting system that eBay are legally obliged to do from now on, to send all sales details for all sellers to HMRC so they can ensure people are paying taxes on their "side hustles".

It will also apply to other self employed roles such as delivery drivers and people who rent out via AirBNB and similar platforms, all their income will be declared to HMRC who will want those figures to match the taxpayers tax return. 

There will be a lot of worried eBay sellers now.... who've been trading illegally for years, with the feedback history to match, and who have pretended to be "private sellers" until now... 

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-12640869/Is-taxman-coming-hustle-Airbnb-Ebay-Uber-...

[simplyessential_uk]

Best news Ive heard all day - I read you can earn upto £1k before having to declare it so that should definitely weed out the "private" business sellers.  

[myriad*seller]

You can have a gross *turnover* of £1000 (eg make £1000 worth of sales) before being legally required to register for self assessment

Profit doesn't come into it, it is gross turnover. 

[vikkipollardanddafyddthomas]

There is already a plethora of people "clearing out their attic and selling unwanted items online without intending to make a profit, exceeding that £1000 allowance" so nothing will change. 

[simplyessential_uk]

I guess its all in the detail - HMRC arent going to be interested in £1-2k BUT if Ebay report sellers earning far more year after year then that will raise flags 

[tabletop-hobbies]

Happy days.  Although I thought ebay shared this sort of thing already... maybe just for VAT purposes, as in flagging to HMRC when a business seller crosses the threshold?

I won't be shedding any tears for the sellers on here who are fencing stuff as private sellers but are blatantly buying stock in wholesale, best news I've heard in ages on ebay!!

[wysiwyg_steve]

The barely disguised glee in your post is stomach churning.  Billionaires and massive companies cheat the system but lets spend a small fortune hunting down eBay traders because WE KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE!

Pathetic.

First of all it's worth noting that this article is from the Daily Mail and the fact that they're doing a scare-'em-up job on behalf of HMRC doesn't surprise me in the least.

Secondly it's for ADDITIONAL income.  £1,000 is mentioned but there's no mention of the approximately £12,000 a person can earn before declaring it as their sole income.

[tabletop-hobbies]

Pathetic you say, but I do pay taxes and I won't be looking over my shoulder waiting for the tax man.  Thanks for the ad hominem attack though.  If you do need a decent accountant I can recommend one, a bit of free advice though... if it is sole income up to the threshold of £12570 (ish) you won't have to pay tax just file a self assessment.

I assume you've got to this stage in life without ever benefitting from living in a place where services are paid for by.... that's it TAXES.  Congratulations on living in an anarchic state, most of us though have to slum it with the NHS, education, security... government (i know sorry) funded by taxes paid by honest law abiding folk.  Apologies for the sarcasm but you get my drift.

Your justification for dodging taxes by blaming the problem on billionaires is weak tbh.  Sorry that the party's over for you.

[eastern-lights]

Secondly it's for ADDITIONAL income.  £1,000 is mentioned but there's no mention of the approximately £12,000 a person can earn before declaring it as their sole income.

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I am not an expert but I believe income below £12750 should be declared, even if no income tax is payable. But DYOR.

[rjwilmsi]

It sounds like good news in general. I think we all know there are some sellers trading incorrectly and almost certainly not properly declaring their income to HMRC, hence defrauding the public purse (i.e. the rest of us) of the appropriate tax revenue.

However, you do wonder whether in the bigger picture there is more tax evasion/tax fraud to find in the large corporations who have teams of accountants finding ways to evade tax.

[four_mid_able]

I wonder if this will go sideways into the benefits system ,just a thought 🤐

[thesmi42]

This was proposed in July 2023, with an annoncement that the regulations will apply from 1 January 2024, with reporting due from January 2025. See HMRC reporting-rules-for-digital-platforms .

[4_bathrooms]

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@vikkipollardanddafyddthomas wrote:

There is already a plethora of people "clearing out their attic and selling unwanted items online without intending to make a profit, exceeding that £1000 allowance" so nothing will change. 

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Quite right. The only thing that will change is eBay will become legally required to share every UK user's data with HMRC as opposed to voluntarily sharing it at present which has been happening since 2010.

HMRC have been performing "clampdowns" every 4-5 years or so since Connect went live. One was earlier this year; just Google "eBay HMRC compliance letter" for examples. The first was in 2014 and there was another in 2018 - it seems they had a pause during Covid.

HMRC are only interested in undeclared trading income. They do not care what type of eBay account a person is using in the course of their trade - that is Trading Standard's concern. However, Trading Standards are practically non-existent any more - consumers can't even contact them directly with any problems they may have and are instead directed to Citizen's Advice.   

[magpiecorner1]

Business turnover though - you can still flog that wee Ferrari that has been taking up room in the garage, and it could go for thousands - heck, we are talking Ferraris here, it could go for millions.  And not one penny in tax to pay.

I remember checking out an F40, second hand, in the early 90s, £80k.  Of course I didn't have £80k but heck If I could have seen the future I would have found it - worth a couple of million pounds, give or take, today.  And not even a rare Ferrari!

[magpiecorner1]

No need to evade tax, plenty of ways for corporations to legally avoid tax.  Yet looks like the basic state pension is going to be taxed within the next couple of years!  And to think both the basic state pension and the £12570 tax threshold are below minimum wage, never mind living wage!  Its a strange strange world! 

[iew-signed-books]

Good - and long overdue too.

[iew-signed-books]

I wonder why you aren't registered as a business seller?

[papso22]

Wouldn't that be caught by capital gains tax?  And the only reason the state pension doesn't seem to be taxed is because it is less than the tax allowance, otherwise it is still potentially taxable.

[eastern-lights]

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@magpiecorner1 wrote:

 Yet looks like the basic state pension is going to be taxed within the next couple of years!  

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Basis state pension is already taxed, (though not on a PAYE basis), don't let anyone tell you it isn't. If your only source of income is the basic state pension then you don't pay any tax because you are within your tax allowance. But if say you have an income from another source that is below the tax threshold, then start receiving your basic state pension and that takes you over the threshold, you are liable for tax. Possible the future change you refer to will bring it into the PAYE scheme.

[1956glyn]

If one is still working and claiming state pension plus have other private pensions......everything is taxed 😞

All info was given to the tax office and all taxes were being paid and still they landed us with a nice bill which we had to repay grrrrr They admitted it was all their fault but would not write off the balance owing.