Confused over needing NI number and allowances

[jrd-games]

My non-related business *completely* died in May last year but I still had a huge tax bill from the previous tax year to pay off, so resorted to selling off a lot of my prized possessions on eBay to soften the blow.

Today, I just got a notification about supplying my National Insurance Number to eBay. 

Have seen conflicting info. One thing was saying I should be paying taxes as the sales did cross the £1700 threshold, but a page on the HMRC site says I don't need to as I was selling my personal possessions below 6k. What to do here?

To be honest, the platform is now absolutely *awful* to use as a private seller so was just thinking of closing my account anyway.

[cassidy_r_private]

"so now your get taxed on£140 a week side line in the end your slaving"

I have no idea why this should be a shock.

My daughter does extra shifts in PICU and lo and behold, any money she earns over and above her normal salary is taxed. I earn small incomes from four sources - all taxable.

You earn money above the tax threshold and it is taxed. Nobody is immune to this.

Our beloved government then gives it away to all and sundry or spends it on itself, but that's another story.

There are no alternatives other than living off the state. The idea that this is somehow unfair or some sort of a personal attack is just daft.

[ett1954]

'free' session with an account - sorry, that should be accountant; too late to edit.

[happysmileygirl64]

Every time I think I understand this, I get even more confused! 🫣

[themidnightcaller]

30 items in a year seems awfully low..

[jozboz2008]

I think it's all annoying as hell tbh, why should any of us have to pay any extra tax, do we not get taxed enough at every other turn by the government. I'm sick of it. You work hard in your jobs and they squeeze all the tax they can from you, a lot of us sit at home worrying and trying to earn a little extra for ourselves, and now the big companies don't protect us and tell the government to go do one, they hand us over without a fight. I've had to give up work as I'm dying of Cancer, so I've been selling to Squirrel away a bit for my kids to have when I'm gone without the taxman taking most of it. I just want to give up.

[happysmileygirl64]

I totally understand. Imo, the government wants us "to stay broke" 😕

[lellypoos]

That's truly horrendous that you have to get into that state . . . of giving up 😢 This government have got hell of a lot to answer for 🤬 Please stay positive as I suppose we all have to 🙏

[lellypoos]

Hi there 👋

That was exactly my first thought . . . close my account ! Plus the fact that they also reduced the amount of items that I/we could list in a month from 1,000 to 300 . . . what's all that about ! 

[cassidy_r_private]

Our poor government have a lot of unproductive people to finance.

I’m not concerned about tax liabilities etc. If I owe, I’ll pay.

What does concern me though is that millions of ebay account holders having financial information submitted at the same time is going to generate so much data that someone at HMRC is going to have the brilliant idea of using AI to deal with it.

[papso22]

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@lellypoos wrote:

Hi there 👋

That was exactly my first thought . . . close my account ! Plus the fact that they also reduced the amount of items that I/we could list in a month from 1,000 to 300 . . . what's all that about ! 

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They have reduced the amount of items you can list for free, the amount you can list is different. 

[kath3735_wxmjn]

well one theory is that it is to try to stop business sellers trading as private sellers!

[alfifletch27]

Yer
I’ve gone over the threshold
But laid out on purchases
So say you earn £2000 in one year but your takings look high! But you’ve laid out money to buy and sell I understand that ebay have no options but to put private sellers on the new rules! But end of the day you’ve got the headache of proving purchases sales etc etc end of the day with all the rules being taxed on a hobby that you get a little out of to me this is just a BIG headache for a small private seller it’s not that we are turning over £50.000 ) my personal calculations say I will be up late wrapping posting dealing with buyers complaints etc etc which I never minded doing that to me was part of the fun sells yes sometimes a headache losing on missing post claiming back etc etc but now we are going to get taxed! this to me is not worth the hustle owing by the end you’re pay tax and you loose you’re small yearly profit for all the hard work involved in a hobby yes you earn a profit but it’s small specially after all the effort put in and the loses !
That you have to prove it’s a shame for all the private sellers out there but I Don’t won’t to carry on with now a headache

Sent from my iPhone

[jckl1957]

Even if you close your account and/or refuse to give your NI Number, Ebay will have to send your details to HMRC if you sold more than 30 items last year.

If I worked for HMRC (I don't), my priority would be to investigate members who closed their accounts or refused to comply with the request for their NI Number because I would think, potentially, they had something to hide.

[johnwash1]

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@papso22 wrote:

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@lellypoos wrote:

Hi there 👋

That was exactly my first thought . . . close my account ! Plus the fact that they also reduced the amount of items that I/we could list in a month from 1,000 to 300 . . . what's all that about ! 

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They have reduced the amount of items you can list for free, the amount you can list is different. 

---

True, but...

For many of us, decluttering, paying to list over 300 would be a non-starter.  Fine if things sold quickly, but they don't, so you'd have to pay and pay and pay for relisting before they sell.  Of course you could just use the automatic relist after 30 days, but I've found that simply guarantees an additional thickness of invisibility cloak.

[ett1954]

As I understand it a private seller gets 300 free listings per month and auto relists don't count .  That is 3600 free listings per year.  300 free listings per month, ad infinitum, should be enough free listings for any private seller.

[kath3735_wxmjn]

with the exception of certain catergories, stamps, postcards etc i would agree that 300 is more than enough for a genuine private seller.

[kath3735_wxmjn]

if you are buying to sell then you are not a private seller!  

[33linden]

I recently got hit with this NI demand from ebay.

The thing is, I provided them with my NI number previously last January when they first started digital reporting because Im not hiding anything and this year HMRC were not interested in it.

So Im not sure why it's now no longer in my account details and all/any payments are paused until I update it again and its a huge red banner on the App and they send me an email alert etc.

When I spoke to someone on the 'Help" chat they just read the script about digital sales etc and the need to provide detials to HMRC (yes I know) but why do i need to give them it all over again and where has the original information gone that I provided them with 12  months ago?

I asked someone to call me and a helpful guy from Ireland rang me up, but he wasnt able to explain why, when or what was going on beyond it all being automated and he couldnt say what had happened to the previously provided Info. I mean its not like your NI number changes, its issued for Life.

When I asked them which dates they were using for the Tax year, Like will it be April 6th to April 6th, January to January etc- he couldnt tell me that either.

So... Really I dont love giving people my NI or UTR unless its being stored and used in a responsible fashion. This isnt either of those.

[jckl1957]

Just to clarify, do you mean you have your NI Number to Ebay a few weeks ago, in January this year?

EDIT

Just read your post properly - I am sorry, but you must be mistaken.

Ebay have to report your sales to HMRC if you sold more than 30 items (or items worth more than about £1700) between January and December 2024, so there is not any reason why Ebay would have asked you for your NINO in January last year.

They could not have predicted your sales for 2024.

[papers-mate-420]

I did the online check and i got the same answer, i don't need to provide anything 2 HMRC as i haven't gone over the £6,000 and i don't buy to sell as just selling on the unwanted items i don't need anymore. so this means i don't have to give ebay my national insurance number after i got the email the other day. had a chat 2 a few people today asking 4 advice and was told better not give ebay or any other websites like ebay as they are not a bank and it is too risky 4 online scammers etc.