EBay asking for national insurance number

[raik1performance]

Hi everyone, I recently joined for like 1 month and I start selling as a private seller , and now eBay is asking me to provide national insurance number.

"New UK digital sales reporting legislation requires sellers with 30 or more sales, or who have sales exceeding £1740 in a calendar year, to register this information"

[jckl1957]

There is lots of accurate information out there.

HMRC is a good, accurate, reliable source.

Essentially, if you are selling your own items, there is no tax liability.

However, the UK has signed up to an agreement where online platforms are required to submit details to HMRC of all sellers who either sell more than 30 items in a year or who have sales totalling more than about £1740. (The amount is set in euros so it can vary.)  This does not mean you will have to pay any tax or that HMRC will even contact you.

If you are buying or making items to sell at a profit, you are trading and should be completing a self-assessment.

The £6000 figure  that people randomly chuck about is connected to capital gains tax and would relate to the sale of a single item or a collection but, generally, is not relevant to Ebay sellers.

More details available from the link below.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/selling-goods-or-services-on-a-digital-platform

[sml192]

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@zed.1015 wrote:

Now now matey ! you can stop right there with your incorrect libelous accusations which wouldn't get you such a polite response if we were in the same room right now .

I'm not suggesting anything dodgy so wind your neck in and get your facts right.

1 - There is no legal limit on how may accounts you can hold .

2 - I have two linked accounts for the simple reason that i temporarily lost the password for the first many years ago .

The most recent one of over 20 years has just reached the yearly 30 item limit but only around £400 of private "so called earnings" from my own possessions so they now want my nino to carry on.

Due to this latest SD etc debacle there's no way i'm giving ebay any more of my personal info so i decided to try my old account and lo and behold i've been able to list a couple of items and there's absolutely no sign of any restrictions being carried over from the other abandoned account .

And that's a FACT....

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It may have worked for you at present but that doesn't mean that it will work for everyone. 

It is possible to have more than one account (how many is up to eBay and nothing to do with any legality), however, the reporting thresholds apply to the individual not the account.

Opening another account to try and  circumvent the rules is a serious breach of policy so very poor advice. 

Also, eBay is allowed to request the required information during the account onboarding process or at any point thereafter if it wishes.  They don't have to wait for the reporting thresholds to be met. 

[zed.1015]

Another reply with libelous undertones that assumes my intentions and also trying to school me on information you appear to think i am not aware of which is not the case...

I gave the poster the current facts and at no point did i suggest using it as a tool to circumvent their tax responsibilities but only to enable them to continue selling if they wish so please choose your words more carefully ..  

Regardless of information given ( which being fact is not in anyway against any rules ) the op is responsible for their own tax declaration and i'm sure they will carry on doing whatever they were doing before which as an untwisted unjudgemental individual who doesn't speculate and gossip like a fishwife i assume was and is all above board.

And as for "what works for me". 

Discovering that the other account may enable me to carry on selling a few unwanted items  ( If SD becomes an option and not the only choice ) changes nothing and HMRC are fully aware as they always were of all my transactions from whatever source as you have stated and will get their cut if i ever exceed my personal allowance.

[crn303]

Hello Zed …. Agreed with your replies during the day.

Probably a little bit of envy aimed at you.

Let it all go over your head.

Theres always a bully in the playground.

[sml192]

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@zed.1015 wrote:

Another reply with libelous undertones that assumes my intentions 

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My reply does not contain any false statements and is certainly not intended to damage your reputation.  Apologies if my wording in some way suggests otherwise. 

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@zed.1015 wrote:

and also trying to school me on information you appear to think i am not aware of which is not the case...

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Some of the comments you have posted would appear to suggest otherwise.

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@zed.1015 wrote:

I gave the poster the current facts and at no point did i suggest using it as a tool to circumvent their tax responsibilities but only to enable them to continue selling if they wish so please choose your words more carefully ..  

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You may not have stated that as the purpose but it was certainly implied as, unless I am missing something, there is no other possible reason for opening another account instead of providing the required information.

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@zed.1015 wrote:

Regardless of information given ( which being fact is not in anyway against any rules ) the op is responsible for their own tax declaration

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Yes, that is correct, an individual is still responsible for their own tax declaration.  EBay’s legal obligations as a Reporting Platform Operator are completely separate.

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@zed.1015 wrote:

And as for "what works for me". 

Discovering that the other account may enable me to carry on selling a few unwanted items  ( If SD becomes an option and not the only choice ) changes nothing and HMRC are fully aware as they always were of all my transactions from whatever source as you have stated and will get their cut if i ever exceed my personal allowance.

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I have no issue with you continuing to use another existing account whilst you are still able to.  Opening another account is a different matter and not, in my view, something you should be suggesting to others. 

[*maetrix*]

Agreed...when you look at what's happened with M&S and the CO-OP over the last week it makes me think that some of these tin pot companies should never be trusted with our personal details...will never understand why these places are so obsessed with getting us all to sign up for their "loyalty" cards.

Absolute nonsense that the government should start clamping down on. 

[*maetrix*]

100% this.

[*maetrix*]

30 items -  IN A YEAR...?!

What's the bl00dy point in joining ebay if you're only aloud to sell 0.7 of an item a week...?

Ebay and hmrc need to give their heads a wobble.

[papso22]

You are 'allowed' to sell as much as you like (or can).

The reporting limits were not set by HMRC or ebay.

[*maetrix*]

Who set the reporting limits then?

[lucy_farmer]

'....will never understand why these places are so obsessed with getting us all to sign up for their "loyalty" cards.'

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Because we are for sale maetrix. 🙁

We're not just customers spending our money with them : we are a new 'revenue stream' . 

(Data being the new commodity traded between businesses...)

And I think the loyalty card bonanza may be coming to an end:

These cards mostly give the holder, 'money off'😀, 'special prices' 👍 'great discounts'  😍 etc............ but now about 90% of shoppers have the relevant loyalty card. So are the prices these shoppers  pay  'special!' 'low! ', 'club!'  prices.....?

or are they just the normal price that 90% of people pay....?

[papso22]

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@*maetrix* wrote:

Who set the reporting limits then?

I'm guessing it was somebody thick like Rachel Reeves.

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The members of the OECD.

[lonewolfmozes]

What does OECD mean? hang on i know what it means, Organisation Economic Clowns Department lol 😂

[*maetrix*]

The OECD obviously don't know how to get an economy moving.

It's laughable how these organisations get into power.

[*maetrix*]

Why do ebay need our National Insurance number?

[specialk1937]

To send all details of your earnings to Inland Revenue!

[papso22]

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@*maetrix* wrote:

Why do ebay need our National Insurance number?

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

[papso22]

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@specialk1937 wrote:
To send all details of your earnings to Inland Revenue!

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Please keep up, the IR ceased to exist 20 years ago.

[*maetrix*]

So why don't HMRC actually write to us to ask for our National Insurance numbers?...rather than us being asked to give out our personal information to yet another tinpot website.

Can see it now - "ebay has cyber attack,millions of customers personal data stolen".

I would've thought that hmrc already have my NI number anyhow...?

I'm not comfortable passing on this sort of information to ebay or any other website..certainly not over the internet.

[papso22]

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@*maetrix* wrote:

So why don't HMRC actually write to us to ask for our National Insurance numbers?...rather than us being asked to give out our personal information to yet another tinpot website.

Can see it now - "ebay has cyber attack,millions of customers personal data stolen".

I would've thought that hmrc already have my NI number anyhow...?

I'm not comfortable passing on this sort of information to ebay or any other website..certainly not over the internet.

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So why don't HMRC actually write to us to ask for our National Insurance numbers?...rather than us being asked to give out our personal information to yet another tinpot website.

Because that's not what the law was set up to require.