Government tax clamp down - is it fair?

[elizsh1527]

I saw that HMRC will be clamping down on sellers who make more than £1,000 a year from selling on Ebay, Vinted, Depop etc

Do you think it is fair? Will anyone look into alternatives. Are there any? 

[the_book_seekers]

An eBay spokesperson told FactCheck: “In light of HMRC’s new tax reporting rules, eBay is working closely with our sellers to educate them on the changes, which won’t affect their existing tax obligations.”

Anybody noticed or experienced this?

[nebs9999]

So, an admission from eBay that (despite there being no change to peoples tax obligations) it is only because ebay now have to make reports to HMRC that they are educating their sellers. They didn't care less before the reporting requirement.

HMRC can go back 20 years in cases of deliberate tax evasion. Some sellers are going to be looking at huge tax bills.

[leadhills_scot]

They have put up a help page about it.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/account/regulatory/uk-digital-sales-reporting?id=5454&st=3&pos=1&query=U...

[the_book_seekers]

There are basic articles on the help pages relating to tax obligations which ebay has left to the individual to read. The 'working closely with our sellers to educate them on the changes' bit doesn't ring true, unless they are contacting those who are affected directly, but nobody has popped up to say they have had any information from ebay.

[ojewellery]

I  know this isn't an eBay thing but why on earth have HMRC got the threshold amount for reporting in Euro's?

[nebs9999]

Nobody has popped up to say they have had any information from ebay, probably because the only people ebay are contacting is the crooks who don't register as a business. And ebay are probably only doing that to protect their back if they are accused of money laundering by allowing this to carry on for years.

[the_book_seekers]

HMRC signed up to a set of international rules set by the Orginisation for Ecomomic Co-operation and Development and they set the amount in Euros.

[jeanandy19652]

If you see someone selling loads of items and are listed as a private seller and not a buisness then you report that seller to ebay and they set in and tell that seller to change account to buisness or they will remove there selling privlages

[btr.style]

I'm not sure if you are joking?

There's posts here all the time about people trading this way who have been reported many times for years and eBay haven't done a thing. 

I've reported at least 30 private account business sellers. Some with over 10k items listed and eBay haven't done anything. 

One I reported many times some 4 years ago had 4000 brand new items listed. They have professional listings showing their shop and warehouse, they mention the business has been running for over 10 years. 4 years later they are still on that private account with even more listings. 

[papso22]

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@the_book_seekers wrote:

There are basic articles on the help pages relating to tax obligations which ebay has left to the individual to read. The 'working closely with our sellers to educate them on the changes' bit doesn't ring true, unless they are contacting those who are affected directly, but nobody has popped up to say they have had any information from ebay.

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My take is that 'working closely with our sellers' is a euphemism for 'we have published a document on our site'.

[rainbowtrax]

@jeanandy19652 , as @btr.style says, I'm afraid they don't. Ebay never act on illegal traders using private seller accounts even with irrefutable proof, even when they buy items on ebay and resell on the same account. We've recently had examples of one seller with over 30,000 active listings who has been openly trading for years and another with five linked illegally trading accounts who has been doing it for well over a decade. In both cases, ebay refuse to take any action. If you report a seller for illegally trading on a private seller account, unfortunately nothing happens so it's a complete waste of your time.

[ett1954]

The only way this will change is if HMRC push through laws to make platforms liable for such losses under the possibility of being implicated in tax evasion such as happened a few years ago with VAT registration.

This new international agreement on tax may well be the precursor to that by allowing businesses to voluntarily 'come clean' first.  If this does happen you just watch how quickly eBay acts once there is the potential of financial penalties.

[rigged_out]

The main reason for this was to clamp down on International sellers avoiding taxes. Anyway there seems to be a lot of misinformation around. 

eBay will report to HMRC if you have

Over 30 sales (not including returns or cancellations)

and/or

Over 2,000 Euros eBay payouts (this doesn't include: eBay fees, VAT taken by eBay on fees [or VAT taken that is remitted by eBay such as international sales via GSP], or postage if you pay for it on eBay).

These are set by the OECD scheme.

The main target for this scheme was for those sellers in one country selling items in another country but not declaring that income to the country they are selling in.

Of course, it's HMRC so I would also expect them to use the data to clampdown on locals too.

[soniaden1933]

On a side note...This is going to have a huge knock on effect to post offices who are going to lose a great deal of money from people posting their parcels.  Suppose that is what the government want though!!

[rainbowtrax]

Or you could continue with your business, continue to use the post office and just register correctly and trade legally on ebay and declare and pay any tax that you owe to HMRC. Problem solved, you get to continue with your business and the post offices still get your custom.

[pg_kicks]

I'd love to know the examples of this, I'd bet less than 10 can be found. There is a seller who has sold over 5k items has 400 items listed and I complained to the CEO email got a reply back saying eBay take policy breaches extremely serious and they will look into it, 2 weeks go by and not only dont I get a reply but the seller has listed more, so when I have to phone CS again I mention this to get a reply 2 days later saying they cant prove this is a business seller so will closely monitor the account, since then they are still not offering returns and allowed to list on eBay. Unless eBay take a hit with a fine they will carry on allowing users to break the law and maybe tell 1 account a year they have to change.

I know people are unhappy about businesses complaining but it wont stop unless eBay step up to the plate and actually clamp down on it.

[nigel_paul_wright7557]

You could ask if its fair some people get away without paying tax while the rest of us do pay tax ?

[tascio1]

Out of interest, is this new clampdown likely to be applied to Facebook or Marketplace sales? As a lot more ebay customers have now decided that F/B with no fees is a better option .............................

[papso22]

The rules do not name individual providers of digital platforms, but they do define digital platforms as follows:

1. Section I(A)(1) of the Model Rules shall be amended as follows:
A “Platform” means any software, including a website or a part thereof and applications, including
mobile applications, accessible by users and allowing Sellers to be connected to other users for the
provision of Relevant Services or the sale of Goods , directly or indirectly, to such users. The operations
of the Platform may also include the collection and payment of Consideration in respect of Relevant
Activities. The term Platform does not include software exclusively allowing the:
a) processing of payments in relation to Relevant Activities;
b) listing or advertising in relation to Relevant Activities; or
c) redirecting or transferring of users to a Platform
without any further intervention in the provision of Relevant Services or the sale of Goods.

I would say that includes Facebook accounts.

[carbtec]

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@nigel_paul_wright7557 wrote:

You could ask if its fair some people get away without paying tax while the rest of us do pay tax ?

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I used to be a senior project manager in a FTSE 100 Co' & my salary + bonus / tax rate for 2004 saw me pay just over £80k in PAYE tax.

The multi £Billion turnover corporation that employed me payed approx £200k tax on their profits in that very same year.

All tax is unfair.