Add your tax information to your account to get compliant with UK digital sales reporting?

[bogush75]

Information visible on my private seller's accout:

"Add your tax information to your account to get compliant with UK digital sales reporting legislation, and to avoid upcoming restrictions".  - UPDATE ACCOUNT DETAILS.

I am a private collector buying and selling single, individual items.

Looks like,  after 20 years,  I will be done with ebay for good.

[wintersdawn1]

• If you are selling unwanted personal possessions such as old toys or clothes, this would not be classed as trading or miscellaneous income, and there is usually no tax to pay. In some circumstances there may be capital gains tax when selling valuable items such as jewellery, this is covered in our flowchart.

https://www.litrg.org.uk/news/selling-online-make-sure-you-keep-clear-records

Do I have to share information with HMRC?

From January 2024, new UK digital sales reporting rules require digital platforms like eBay to share information with them. However, this reporting doesn’t change your tax obligations.

On eBay, this should only affect newly registered accounts in 2024, which will extend to all accounts in 2025.

eBay will only report if you pass certain yearly sales thresholds:

• If your total sales on eBay exceed €2000, or roughly £1740, after fees.

• If you complete 30 or more sales transactions on eBay.

In general, selling personal items is not taxed if they’re below £6,000 and you’re not selling as part of a business.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sellercentre/selling/selling-online-and-hmrc

[jckl1957]

They are asking everybody who has reached the applicable thresholds for this information.  That is 30 items sold or items sold for £1700 January to December 2024.

It is at the request of HMRC not an Ebay choice/decision.

This is from HMRC website - I have cut bits out to shorten it but the link is at the bottom.

What you need to report

As a reporting platform operator, you need to tell HMRC about reportable sellers.

You will need to: 

• collect information about sellers on your platform
• collect information about any property listed on your platform (if applicable) 
• verify the information collected (known as ‘due diligence’) 
• identify reportable sellers
• report information to HMRC

For all sellers, you need to report:

• the country the seller lives in
• the total amount paid to the seller for the reporting year 
• the number of transactions the seller received payment for
• any fees, commissions, or taxes you have withheld or charged 
• bank account details to which amounts were paid — if available

If the account details are different from the seller’s details, give the name of the account holder and other identifying details about them, like address and date of birth.

For individual sellers

You need to report their:

• full name
• home address
• date of birth
• National Insurance number if they live in the UK — if they live outside the UK, the tax identification number and the country where it was issued
• other tax identification numbers (like a VAT number) and where they were issued — if available

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/reporting-rules-for-digital-platforms

[vinylscot]

OP, you are a regular contributor to these boards. You must have known that this was coming, as it has been one of the most discussed subjects for many months now.

Or did you think it wouldn't apply to you?

[jckl1957]

They asked for my NINO last week.

Ebay will send details to HMRC with or without all of the relevant information, presumably with a note to say that the seller did not comply when asked for their NINO.  They will have full name, address, bank account details, and other stuff Ebay will have on file - see the 'copy and paste' chunk in my previous response.  HMRC will soon work out what the National Insurance number for a mamber is.

I think (just my opinion and not based on any evidence!) that HMRC will perhaps look more closely at members who close their accounts when asked or refuse to give their details.

[ile136yz]

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@bogush75 wrote:

Information visible on my private seller's accout:

"Add your tax information to your account to get compliant with UK digital sales reporting legislation, and to avoid upcoming restrictions".  - UPDATE ACCOUNT DETAILS.

---

Your NINO will not be visible on your eBay Account, it is stored for you & eBay to see.

[tiggs-91]

Hi,

Do you know how much money the 'Year to date total' has to reach before you have to pay tax? 

[tiggs-91]

Hi,

What will happen if you're a private seller selling unwanted second hand things from your attic and the 'Year to date total' goes over £1000? 

I've already given eBay my national insurance number. 

[gjalp]

If its your stuff, then the most that might happen is HMRC write you a letter asking about the money. We had one of those, we phoned up and told them its our stuff, much of which were inherited chattels and we hadn’t sold a single item or set for £6000k or more so no capital gains would be due. They just asked us to email and confirm in writing. That’s it. Things we trade in (like this ID) are all properly accounted for and self assessments filed (and have been for the last 20+ years)

[theelench]

Has anyone actually seen what "tax information" ebay is asking for ?

Yes, I think everyone must know by now that ebay has to ask sellers who go over the REPORTING thresholds for their NINO.  But a NINO is an identifier not "TAX INFORMATION".

If ebay is asking for a sellers NINO why not say that ?  Why introduce any other term to confuse the issue?  As far as I'm aware all ebay is required to report is the NINO and sales during the year.  Where is there any mention of ebay gathering anything else?

Are they asking for tax codes, copies of tax returns, anything else ?

[tiggs-91]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply.

See the thing is, eBay have said that the threshold is more than 30 items or more than £1740 in a year, but then it says up to £1000 a year on Google. 

How much can the 'Year to date total' reach before having to definitely pay tax?

I keep finding lots of different information and it's confusing. 

Stuff like: "You MAY have to pay tax" and about selling things for more than £6000. 

I don't sell tons of things on eBay. It's all used stuff from my attic I've had for a while and it's usually something like 1 - 2 sales every 2 weeks. 

[jonatjonatjonat]

The £1,740 or 30 items threshold is the point at which ebay are required to ask for your National Insurance number and provide your sales information to HMRC under the digital sales reporting requirements

The £1,000 is an allowance for property or trading income

The £6,000 is a point at which if you sold a collection or item for more than that, capital gains tax might apply

Going on what you are saying, you are unlikely to pay tax.

[tiggs-91]

Hi,

I had to add my national insurance number in April I believe it was.

Has your 'Year to date total' gone over £1000? 

eBay said the threshold is more than 30 items a year, or more than £1740 a year.

But Google says you can earn up to £1000 a year on a selling platform.

My year to date total is a little bit over £1000 and eBay have my national insurance number, so what will happen of I sell some more things on eBay this year? 

Everything I sell is second hand from my attic. 

Please advise.

[papso22]

Your 'tax information' depends on your legal entity.  Presumably ebay are catering for NI numbers as well as UTRs etc with an all encompassing term.

[jonatjonatjonat]

I’m honestly not sure I can make it clearer I’m afraid.

the £1,740 or 30 items is the point at which eBay need to provide your info to HMRC. But you can sell more than that. It’s not a selling limit

the £1,000 is a trading allowance if you are trading. 

if you are only selling used goods from around your house, you aren’t trading, so it’s irrelevant 

[tiggs-91]

Thanks for clearing that up and putting my mind at rest mate. 

Regards.

[gjalp]

To try and make it even clearer, when you sell your personal items from your attic/loft, garage, back of a cupboard, wardrobe or stuff you have kicking around that, any monies you make is not earnings or profit or any other similar word. Its just cashing in your stuff. 

IF you buy something with the sole intention to sell in order to gain a higher return (profit), then this is called trading. When trading you also use the terms expenses, stock, earnings, cash flow, capital, losses etc. This is when you need to declare it, the threshold for declaration is currently set at £1000. 

You can sell as much as you like at whatever amount without paying tax UNLESS an individual item or set of items or a collection in one transaction comes to £6000+. Then you MAY have to pay capital gains tax.

This information is available on the HMRC website along with examples. HMRC also has a youtube channel. If you are trading and not sure of anything, then you can sign up for emails from HMRC to get access to webinars as well. They are actually really helpful.