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-...

[1956glyn]

The tax man cannot even get ones tax right when given all details of all income from all sources.....sighs.   Nightmare 😞

[blackandwhitethunderbird1959]

Nor expenses incurred, I will be ending all my selling lists by 29th Dec and never offer anything for sale again. For the small guys who find ebay a great site to enhance a hobby and sometimes also make small profits while having a job working full time is how it should stay. Most private sellers will likely ease down or stop selling completely with many useful items now going to the tip. I think ebay will become like Amazon a full time retail online shop with only business members auction items on offer. The long term small guys as private members who are hobbies orientated do not run business in the real sense but will be under threat from the taxman. Ebay was good while it lasted 😔

Sent from Outlook for Android<>

[*vyolla*]

---

@blackandwhitethunderbird1959 wrote:
Most private sellers will likely ease down or stop selling completely with many useful items now going to the tip. 

---

I can't see why, this doesn't affect private sellers in any way.

[theelench]

The all too frequent confusion between private and "private"  seller strikes again.

As a private seller disposing of a far too large collection / accumulation of vintage glass, much of it my property for 20-40 years I won't stop selling, as quickly as possible.  Just want it gone before I am.

I find it hard to believe that a "private" seller with a unit full of nice new or not so new glassware would be taking it to the tip.  A business would know of, or find out, better ways to be rid of stock quickly.

[papso22]

"The long term small guys as private members who are hobbies orientated do not run business in the real sense"

There is no such thing as a hobby seller that does not run a business 'in the real sense'.  If you make or buy anything with the intention of selling it you are a business.  It doesn't matter if you also have a 'proper job'. 

The only thing people should be doing on private accounts is getting rid of their own, unwanted, personal possesions that were originally bought for their own use.

[*vyolla*]

---

@theelench wrote:

The all too frequent confusion between private and "private"  seller strikes again.

As a private seller disposing of a far too large collection / accumulation of vintage glass, much of it my property for 20-40 years I won't stop selling, as quickly as possible.  Just want it gone before I am.

---

Same, I collect German fat lava and if I ever decide to sell my collection I won't be doing it on a business account. 

[papso22]

Or at least not 'real private sellers'.

[kath3735_wxmjn]

that is technically incorrect, your basic state pension is not taxed (yet), you get that taken off your personal allowance first and then tax you on any other income.  In my case i have two smaller pensions and usually the tax comes off the largest one.  At the beginning they actually took it off the small one and then because it was still too much they took some off the second one.  I actually wrote to them and said why did they not just take it all off the larger one  which would make more sense,  They actually did that for a few years and then reverted.....

[kath3735_wxmjn]

you can knock Music Magpie all you want but when i have bought from them i have got good DVDs and yet a couple of times i have bought on e bay from private sellers they have been rubbish.  You sound very bitter and jealous of others with a bit of money which is not a good look.    I am a genuine private seller and if the tax man decides i have to pay any tax (which considering my sales is not likely) then i would do so.  I can certainly understand why registered business sellers get fed up of non registered ones.

[kath3735_wxmjn]

you forget to say that those on basic state pension with no other income are usually able to claim additional benefits.  My brother was one of them, he lived in a council house (yes some still do exist!) and the amount of rent and council tax he paid was minimal.  That boosted his income no end.   You are taxed on your income though and NOT on earnings.   I pay tax because i have two small work pensions and i am not griping about it and i will be happy to get the 8.5% which is better than 1 -  3% that we have had in the past.    

[vinylscot]

In reality, probably nothing will happen. The business sellers using private accounts will carry on as usual, and the vast majority will never notice any change.

Every now and then the government, or HMRC, will announce a "crackdown", or there will be some publicity around some sacrificial lamb. It will have a minimal effect. A few will comply, but most will just carry on as before, and will always do so, until they get caught, which they know is vanishingly unlikely.

If eBay provides figures to HMRC, these figures still need to be processed and acted upon, and that's hardly likely to actually happen.

If there is anyone out there, who still believes this government (or The Mail), when they claim they're putting £37 million into this, and allocating 24 full time staff, please contact me. I have a bridge I'd like to sell you.

I hope to be proved wrong, but I don't expect to be.

[theelench]

Aren't you undermining the "Beware of the midnight knock on the door" that some like to put out as frighteners to those who they think are their targets?

[simplyessential_uk]

Its been widely publicised in Jan 24 bank accounts of benefit claimants will be accessed to ascertain where incomes are coming from so not a scare tactic 

[gizby]

No. I'm saying people who are already paying tax through payroll in employment might not bother selling 30 items of their clothing they don't want anymore on vinted to get say £50, then have the time consuming faff of doing a tax self assessment.

[vinylscot]

So you're one of those people who still believe what this government tell you?

They're not going to be checking the bank accounts of everyone on benefits. It's a back-up. Something else they could possibly do in an existing investigation. They don't have time to do MORE work; they can't even remotely cope with what's on their plates at the moment. And do you really think the systems are in place for them to actually be able to do this, as soon as next month? It's all pie-in-the sky. There will be some publicity, and again an occasional sacrificial lamb, but nothing's gong to change.

Are you sure you don't want to buy that bridge?

[simplyessential_uk]

So you're one of those people who still believe what this government tell you?

ok whatever, Im not going down that road of conspiracies and politics

I guess unless any of us are on benefits or not registered self employed we arent going to know

[vinylscot]

I'm not going down conspiracy rabbit holes. I'm just going on their track reord on delivering what they've promised. It's not even a party-political point; I have no idea if the alternative would prove any more reliable.

I'm not in a position to be affected anyway, thankfully, and I do agree that the proposed action, with regard to the eBay situation, is, on balance, "a good thing". I just don't see it happening.

[pillarboxred]

Oh my! Schadenfreude is sad, but delicious. But who are these people making masses of sales and pots of money and not declaring it? There are no doubt some but much of what we sell is at such low prices that there is no profit anyway and the tax collectors might find that their anticipated tax windfall is a mirage. I'm losing money but getting shot of stock which is costing me to store.

[pillarboxred]

Assets like Ferraris are highly visible. When a Ferrari is sold, the original price is deducted from the proceeds and perhaps (I'm not a tax adviser) what has been spent maintaining, storing and insuring it also come off the taxable amount.

From generation to generation, collossal amounts are lost on investments that turn out badly, on collections of the wrong things, treasures that have gone out of fashion.

[pillarboxred]

I think HMRC offices are going to be stacked with files of cases requiring no action because the sales are so pitiful. They'll not be able to move for the walls of paper. Their creaking computer systems won't be able to cope with the worthless data. I suspect a lot of eBay sellers don't make money when everything is taken into account but as amateurs they don't take everything into account: it's a hobby and they are decluttering and making friends with their buyers and they don't need the money anyway.