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"

[papso22]

Generally speaking people pay tax in the country in which the taxable sales are made.

Overseas students are not going to be able to comply with HMRC's or ebay's requirements for a NI number so will have a problem.

[4_bathrooms]

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@papso22 wrote:

Overseas students are not going to be able to comply with HMRC's or ebay's requirements for a NI number so will have a problem.

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As I understand it a non-domiciled student can apply for a NINO if they can prove they are looking for work or will be starting a job. Obviously having the right to work in the UK would be a prerequisite for this.  

The only other way a non-dom could comply with the requirements would be to enter their home country address during registration as they would have the requisite TIN from their home country's tax authority. However, this would result in eBay demanding a VAT registration number as soon as they created a listing for an item located in the UK.  

[dreubencr]

Yeah, I have right to work (20 hours weekly), but they ask you to apply for a NIN only if you truly are looking for work, which is not my case; I rather not lie to the government. Hopefully ebay will find a solution and release the funds since I already shipped the item...!

[4_bathrooms]

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@dreubencr wrote:

Yeah, I have right to work (20 hours weekly), but they ask you to apply for a NIN only if you truly are looking for work, which is not my case; I rather not lie to the government.

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I'm pretty sure anyone with non-dom status applying for a NINO would be required to prove they were actively looking for work or prove they had an existing bone fide job offer before one would be issued.

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@dreubencr wrote:

Hopefully ebay will find a solution and release the funds since I already shipped the item...!

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I don't believe there is a solution. eBay are obliged to withhold the funds until you provide the NINO they were legally obliged to request which of course is something you can't do. eBay's Payments Terms of Use state:

"Any hold placed on your funds will be released when the risk associated with our provision of Payment Services is reduced or eliminated."

I have no idea how long that will be in your case as eBay don't provide a timescale in the PToU.

[tobyskarma]

No idea, just ebay *bleep*py rules!

[4_bathrooms]

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@tobyskarma wrote:
No idea, just ebay *bleep*py rules!

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It isn't eBay's rules; it's the law. eBay have explained when and why they ask for NINOs from individuals on this page. These regulations are not exclusive to eBay; they apply to all digital platforms and online marketplaces that operate in the UK.

[sml192]

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@tobyskarma wrote:
No idea, just ebay *bleep*py rules!

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It is not eBay rules.  They are legally required to obtain Tax Identification Numbers for any Reportable seller, i.e. any seller that meets the thresholds set by the OECD.