Ebay asking for my Nat Ins Number

[lights-camera-actionuk]

I have had a e mail for E Bay asking for my national Insurance number so i can contiunue to sell on e bay

 I am a registered business and have been for over 20 years

 I am VAT registered and have been for over 15 years with my VAT number oin my  e bay account

I pay an accountant to do my accounts of my sales on ebay  every 3 month and now this 

I AM NOT HAPPY ABOUT GIVING MY NAT INSURANCE NUMBER TO E BAY, and there is no mention of it being safe   wit E Bay   im furious

[therenewalworkshopltd]

Hmm, only back to this as someone liked one of my posts.

But strangely enough, you are still selling.

So I am very curious now, you said goodbye to Ebay and that you wouldn't give them your NI number.

Yet here you are still selling after they suspended your account for not providing it.

Hmm, I wonder what could have happened........

[shopping-ferret]

Nobody complaining about having to give their NI nunber here, or the small buyer seller protection charge, or having to use simple delivery or to convert to a business account... appeared to complain when the seller fees for private sellers was abolished.

They want it all their way, for free. Entitled lot, spitting dummies and stamping feet! 😅

[kelseryn]

I think you are confusing my post with someone else.  I have given ebay my nat ins no and will continue to sell until current stock is gone.  Then, I will review and decide if it is going to be worth the extra bother to consider and store  a lot of tax info to what started off as a bit of fun.  Especially since after allowable deductions on profits, I will be well below the figure liable for tax.  What it amounts to for me is extra work to stay in the same place.Sent from my Galaxy

[jonatjonatjonat]

They weren’t responding to you.

[storage.boutique]

"What started off as a bit of fun" was definitely a private seller as you are implying selling a few items a month. Then something happened and you changed to a business activity - it was no longer a bit of fun. At that exact point you should have started doing what we all do, keep records, account and if liable, pay tax and convert your eBay account to a business one. Otherwise you are cheating a system and all of the other legitimately registered business sellers. You cannot now say that it is extra work, as you should have been doing it all along, and doing it properly. You have sold 6.5k items on your account which says to me you are a business seller, and should certainly be doing proper accounts and self assessment. It may well be that you, as you say, have no tax to pay.

If you continue to say you are a private seller, and even convince eBay that you are, you make the platform less trustworthy and open to accusations of dodgy traders making fast bucks and not paying taxes - I am sure this is not you, but what I am saying is that if everyone does this then the platform gets a bad reputation. I certainly know that I have had terrible experiences on eBay buying from private traders in the past and I know what I think about the reputation of the platform as a result.

If you genuinely want to have a business, do it properly. If you dont, get out before the heat in the kitchen gets a lot hotter, I say. 

[trsto-259]

I think eBay has only targeted you.

[storage.boutique]

That won’t wash with HMRC. If the business is registered under your partners name, it’s her business and they should be declaring in their tax return. A failure to do so would of course result in a fine and interest charges. If your partner has another income over the basic allowance then it could be quite a hefty bill they will be paying. You can transfer 10% of your tax allowance to your partner, and perhaps you have overpaid tax. But you would be simpler ensuring that the business is registered under the name of the taxpayer correctly. 

[storage.boutique]

A Director of a company should be paid under PAYE and should therefore be giving their NI number over. It should be noted that Directors who think they can avoid tax by submitting invoices or messing about with Directors Loan accounts are in for a nasty shock after MTD comes in. This was blocked some years back and now is subject to serious financial penalties. If for some reason there is a Director who has not submitted an NI number but is verified without a tax reference, and is a person of significant control - well those would be the guys I would be looking for if I was the HMRC AI. The easiest tax case for HMRC will be to look at the balance sheets for big Creditors or Directors Loans who have not declared the correct accounting treatment for interest on such loans. Nice easy penalty for 7 years plus interest. MTD is going to make it so easy for the tax people. 

[4_bathrooms]

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@storage.boutique wrote:

A Director of a company should be paid under PAYE and should therefore be giving their NI number over. 

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When an eBay account is registered to a company the company is the legal person responsible for handing over their tax identification number. HMRC have decided a company must hand over it's company registration number rather than it's Corporation Tax UTR (I have no idea why). A registered company is a legal person as if they were a natural person; it is the legal person the eBay account is registered to that needs to hand their tax identification number over.

Also, a registered company director is not required to be an employee of the company nor are they required to receive a PAYE salary from it. A director is an office holder and can choose to be paid in dividends instead (for example).

[storage.boutique]

Everything is online now. Your UTR is in your corporation tax account as are all your (Director) personal details.

I think you would need to check with your accountant about Dividends. From memory they shut that door a few years back for some companies. For example if you are a sole Director running a company then any dividends received can be taxed at income tax rates as the dividends are deemed to be an avoidance which you should have declared in your return. A company cannot run itself. If there are multiple Directors and one is running the company and paying PAYE and you are simply a shareholder, then I think that is okay. From memory (and I could well be wrong) this was an old way football players used to try to avoid paying NI.  

As I said before, with MTD there will be a lot of cleaning up to do by HMRC. A lot of folks that have been under declaring for years are going to get nasty brown letters (just my opinion) as the AI will sort this out in no time. It will be simple for HMRC to find all those who have been invoicing the company for services, or using Directors Loans or paying dividends to themselves to avoid paying NI.  I would simply advocate keeping it simple and pay your tax and NI on the level before something comes home to roost.