Ebay and taxes for a private seller.

[addyeddy]

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. 

[*vyolla*]

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@stepfiel3 wrote:

If you're selling your own second hand goods then you'll be making a loss as the second hand value is never the same as the new value.  Problem solved 

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That's not true.

I've sold loads of personal items for more than I paid for them - Vivienne Westwood t-shirts, old Star Wars figures are a couple of things that spring to mind.

[theelench]

It certainly isn't true.

I started collecting vintage glass 50 years ago when Art Deco was very much out of fashion.

To get rid of it house clearers were selling it for peanuts.

So I paid 25 or 50p or even £1 for a vase I liked the look of.  

How can I NOT make a profit??  

[jow1995]

Hi

You have sold 1.3k items , this is a lot  of personal items, maybe worth you looking at your tax obligations going forward. Your sales will be reported to HMRC by ebay, the limit is 30 items or £1700.

[theelench]

Who are you replying to???

[jow1995]

addyedy the origianal author

[hull_media]

Id say "disregard the papers" is good life advice in general lol.

Also just to add, the £1000 trading allowance is NOT new. the law on what is and isn't taxed hasn't changed. the only difference is that ebay now has a duty to inform them of any account amking more than £1400 in one year.

None of this applies to disposal of personal items, which are not trade and do not count towards your tax free allowance.

capital asset sales above £6000 (for one individual item) still need to be declares and capital gains tax may need to be paid but unless the item has gone up in value, which is unlikely, then no tax will be due.

Source: accountant

I think the newspapers did a real number on the easily frightened readers under their control.

[sagr2519]

Problem not solved. A business has records and can demonstrate in their tax return that they made a loss. A person selling their own second hand goods probably doesn't have the receipt anymore. If HMRC suspect them of being a business it can be hard to prove innocence.

[jalder999]

really not sure what to do.for years as a hobby iv purched expensive statues at sometimes £500-£700 each,then maybe sell them at same price to purchase better statues.Done this for a few years sometimes buying a selling 4 or 5 statues a year,i make none or not much profit and sometimes a loss,i do it as a hobby not as a side money making thing.Thing is it looks like i turn over a couple of k a year,,but its cost me that to buy them.will the tax man come after me?

[theelench]

I wonder how many receipts you can produce for personal items, such as clothes, bric-a-brac or furniture you bought (say) ten years ago?  Let alone for a collection you've been working on for even longer?

Can you produce any at all for anything other than your business?

[thefarfield]

Just closed my eBay account after 20 years. The 30 sales and £1,000 (or is it £1,700 or less if you take off eBay fees and postage?) is ridiculously low. I sell all my old stuff on eBay and easily go over 30 per year. As a keen golfer I sell my old clubs which can easily reach 2 or 3 hundred pounds each. Golf club manufacturers constantly improve the technology in their clubs. So, for example, I buy a Ping G425 driver off eBay for £250. I use for 6 months then see the latest iteration the G430 has started to come down in price so I buy for £300. I sell my G425 for £225. A loss of 25 but a good deal for me. But as you can see I am not profiteering but having relatively high value items easily sends me over the threshold. I do not want HMRC going through all my current and previous sales and hitting me with a bill I couldn't even begin to work out how much. So with the sale of old golf clubs, shoes, jeans, records, CD's etc. All items paid for out of taxed income. I do not see the point in risking big problems down the line. 

[44sooze]

If you're selling personal items for less than £6k (sales, fees and p&p) then you're OK (check at: https://www.gov.uk/check-additional-income-tax). For anyone who's confused, I would recommend asking a tax accountant (the two I've spoken to didn't charge for the first 30 minutes) rather than HMRC for advice as it's caused me huge problems. 

[*vyolla*]

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@44sooze wrote:

If you're selling personal items for less than £6k (sales, fees and p&p) then you're OK (check at: https://www.gov.uk/check-additional-income-tax). For anyone who's confused, I would recommend asking a tax accountant (the two I've spoken to didn't charge for the first 30 minutes) rather than HMRC for advice as it's caused me huge problems. 

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This information is INCORRECT.

You're getting mixed up with the £6,000 Capital Gains tax threshold, which applies to single items sold. This won't apply to 99.9% of eBay sellers unless they have a Picasso lurking in their loft.

[*vyolla*]

To clarify the tax situation for eBay sellers:

A private seller selling their own personal items isn't subject to tax, they can check their status with HMRC's checker here:

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.

[jckl1957]

Ebay have finally responded to this directly to members with an email (sent yesterday) stating 'There's no new 'side hustle tax'!'

[*vyolla*]

Great, now everyone is going to read that and come here quoting nonsense.

I think that this is badly worded:

"In general, selling personal items is not taxed if they're below £6,000 and you're not selling as part of a "business."

This is where the current wave of misinformation is coming from, I think. Whilst eBay do later go on to mention the £6,000 being a Capital Gains tax, it doesn't initially read like that and that's what people glance at and then requote on Facebook and then it becomes word that sellers can make £6,000.

And this one:

"Finally, Ben, from London, sold Pokemon cards for profit. He received £18,000 and made a profit of £2,900. But because Capital Gains Tax contains an allowance of up to £6,000, he did not owe any tax either."

Did Ben sell these as a job lot and is Ben trading as a business seller or a private one?

Variables here would be that unless they were sold as a job lot he wouldn't be subject to CGT. If a business seller he'd get the £1,000 Trading Allowance, and if he were a private seller listing them individually then none of it is taxable (though he may end up with a nudge letter in 2025 to confirm that he's a private seller listing his own personal collection).

[44sooze]

Yes, I worded that badly. I’ve been advised that I won’t have to pay tax selling my personal items because I’ve not been selling for profit. The exception to this would be if I sold an item worth more than £6,000, which would qualify for Capital Gains Tax, as you say (unless it was a car).

[aerographics]

6 pages of this, and yet confusion...

So, after reading of £1000 then £1700 then £4000 then £1400 in this thread, and seeing people writing without saying what they are replying to, or saying what their limit they are quoting refers to, be it business sales, private possessions, or whatever.

JUST WHAT IS THE FINAL SET OF RULES COMING OUT OF THE NEW LAWS OR CARRYING ON LAWS.

also say if its a new law or an existing one please !

LETS HAVE SOMEONE IN AUTHORITY OR REFERRING TO WHAT AN AUTHORITY HAS TOLD THEM, GIVE US THE 'IN A NUTSHELL' RULES ON ALL THIS PLEASE !

....and for most folk, such as mr golf club seller or statue seller, personal possessions 'big boys toys' expensive stuff in other words, just how many (appears to be 30/yr) and for how much in total, can they sell per year without getting taxed yet again on money that was already taxed, they spending the remainder HMRC had allowed them in their salary slip on these items, with no receipts to prove profit, be they car boot purchases , statue fares, car jumbles, aerojumbles, or whatever ?

[papso22]

I suggest you read the posts by Vyolla, they are the ones with the right information in.

[aerographics]

I was hoping someone could summarise here, rather than we have to rummage through 6 pages of posts.

Aerographics.

[*vyolla*]

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@aerographics wrote:

I was hoping someone could summarise here, rather than we have to rummage through 6 pages of posts.

Aerographics.

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To save you having to scroll back 6 posts:

A private seller selling their own personal items such as bits and pieces from their wardrobe/loft/garage isn't subject to tax, you can check your status with HMRC's checker here:

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.