eBay

addyeddy · ‎12-11-2023

I read in the papers that there are changes afoot and anything over 1,000 a year in sales will have to be declared, yet I've gone onto the HMRC site, put in all relevant details, and it says I don't have to declare unless I've sold things worth over £6,000.

I'm only selling personal items that I no longer have a use for.

Can anyone clarify for me? Thanks.

aerographics · ‎30-03-2024

Thank you, so the limit is £1700 and not £6000 before HMRC get informed of your sales, not profits, just sales, hammer price in other words.

This is where problems lie.

Mr golf club or mr statue for example, into expensive items, sell a few and HMRC get informed, not made a profit, but HMRC come knocking , pc plod mode,

HMRC....L O L O, whats all this then , making lots of money are we.

seller....Sorry sir just selling whats mine to sell, bought with what money HMRC left me with after TAX,

HMRC...prove you havent made a profit of £1700,

Seller....sorry cant, buy these things at fares etc, sorry

HMRC....hard luck we are going to tax you all over again,

Seller....Thats taxing me on money that was taxed. though. At that rate you will eventually have taxed all my money I was allowed by you in my salary slip.

HMRC....quite right...100% tax UK rules. every penny you earn we will remove, we will 100%tax with this system.

Seller....so now what do we do ? we sellers of expensive clubs statues and other expensive collectables.

If we dont sell more than £6000 it was looking like we need not worry, but if ebay etc inform HMRC of a total hammer price of £1700, thats not much sales for folk into expensive collectables.

Its a tax on interests, big boys toys, folk not running a business, simply having a hobby with what taxman left them to spend, to be taxed on that as well., repeatedly in effect.

Is that legal, have HMRC thought it through, retaxing taxed pay continually.

Innocent until proven guilty is uk law, this is guilty until proven innocent.

Show its not profit, collectors can't often do that. no receipts as such.

Seller....HMRC...sod off, slams door 🙂

mr golf club and mr statue and more, you have a problem...perhaps.

No wonder folk emigrate to countries with different tax laws, we UK Govt are about to 100% tax you 'big boys toys' collectors.

Aerographics

technthread · ‎31-03-2024

This is where it gets into unanswerable territory as you have to get into people's minds. Some Mr golf club and Mr statues know a lot about their hobby and go to fares every week and pick up all of the underpriced items in their area of interest knowing they can flip it on eBay.

They may keep some buys for their collection and fund their next buys with the profits on the bits they bought to sell. It's a hobby sure but in part, has it branched into an intention to profit? Could a business seller who trades in a very specific niche take the stance that it is a hobby and stop submitting Self-Assessment Tax Returns?

I'm not against your concerns or pro taxman, I have my own issues with this digital sales reporting and how it is going to evolve. If I was a collector re-selling items from my collection online I'd be keeping extensive records that is for sure.

*vyolla* · ‎31-03-2024

This is the million dollar question - how will our sales information be treated and interpreted by HMRC?

Some sellers will be obvious private sellers listing their own personal items, some will be private sellers falling into a grey area in HMRCs eyes though, and it is worrying because you're always guilty 'til proven innocent with them.

I have an extensive collection of a particular type of pottery that I've collected over decades, bought from eBay, charity shops, boot fairs, received as birthday gifts etc. If I decide to start listing and selling those pieces because I'm downsizing they'll take me well over eBay's reporting criteria. I don't have receipts for those pieces, so wouldn't be able to provide any if asked. Even if I did have receipts that would just prove that I bought them a good while back. Now, I'm not sure how HMRC would view my sales, but wouldn't like to put it to the test.

I think that a good few of the larger charity shop and boot fair resellers will get caught out here though, when their clothing items range through half a dozen very different sizes, same for their shoes. That would be a clear indication that those items aren't the personal possessions of the named account holder, and I believe that will trigger a nudge letter asking for clarification.

ile136yz · ‎31-03-2024

@*vyolla* wrote:

https://www.gov.uk/check-additional-income-tax

If all you're doing is selling goods online, eBay and the other online platforms (such as Vinted, Depop, Etsy) will ONLY pass on data to HMRC automatically if you're selling 30 or more items a year OR have total earnings over the equivalent of £1,770. eBay will automatically share this information with HMRC by 31 January 2025 – the first lot of data-sharing will cover the 2023/24 tax year.

Even though the above data is being shared, it doesn't mean that you will owe tax if you're a private seller.

There is a £1,000 Trading Allowance for small/hobby business sellers. They can sell £1000 worth of goods (gross sales, not profit) before having to declare this on a self assessment return. This is useful for those starting up or those not selling many items that they've bought or made to re-sell.

As eBay may share Seller's information, at the end of the year, I noticed a flaw that will be shown (I noticed on a recent refund I made, & I checked back over the year & this happened everytime).

If a Seller issues a Full Refund to the Buyer via an eBay case - eBay are still including the Items amount less fees in the Seller's turnover, they do not deduct the amount from the total amount.

for example if item was sold for £100, the fee will be deducted at say 11.8% (£11.80), but the remainder £88.20 which would have been refunded to the Buyer is still being included in the Seller's Sales where I think it should be shown as a minus.

*vyolla* · ‎31-03-2024

That's worrying. I would have assumed that the new report will be in a different format and factor this in and change the sales amount accordingly. I guess we won't know for sure until Jan 25 (I'm also assuming that we get a copy of what, exactly, has been sent to HMRC).