Again, as when MP was introduced and bank account details became a requirement of selling anything on ebay, I think some business sellers are underestimating how difficult many non-business people find this sort of demand.
We've been told forever that NINOs should be kept as secret as possible, not handed out to any company that wants them for fear of identity theft.
Most people have probably never filed a Tax Return in their working lives and even the mention of possibly having to do so will terrify them, especially since the govt. adopted the tactic of increasing its income by the widespread use of fines for late submission, incorrect figures and interest on late payment.
Even the self-employed, often with only the simple/ short form to contend with, will employ an accountant because they lack the confidence to deal with the paper-work and on-line filing. How will this go down with those who, even if employed part-time or never having been employed at all, have only a vague idea of what their NINO is or where to find it?
As someone said above, this will make the fall out from the requirements for MP registration look like a storm in a tea-cup.
The questions are only beginning and I've already seen some terse replies by bored business sellers to repeated questions of the same type. I do hope that we're not going to see again the laughing at their concerns and confusion that were so often dismissed with an airy "just open a second bank account, it's so easy", back then.
If the ebay quote about "individual sellers" was just transposed from .com, ebay might be surprised by the reaction here and for how many it will be the final "line in the sand". There was plenty of resistance to handing ebay NINOs in the US, where things are different, there will be as much here, if not more.
