Multiple account HMRC reporting?

[si580023]

I understand people can have more than one buying/selling account on here for various reasons (I only have one) but now with Ebay reporting to HMRC, is the 30 items/£1740 limit PER account or across ALL accounts?

[suelel1968]

I imagine it will be by NI number. 

[caf_uk]

I'd imagine that Ebay would treat each account separately but HMRC would obviously link them all together due to being the same NI number. Bottom line is that as long as you complete a self assessment if you are required to then there will be no issues

[si580023]

Thanks, though at this moment in time I've neither volunteered one or been asked for a NI number.

[suelel1968]

You will be asked if you get to the threshold. I'm not sure of the computer terminology, but although you will have two accounts they are linked in the system somehow (IP address maybe) you can only sign into one at a time on the same browser. HMRC will presumably eventually get NI for everyone as you could be just under the threshold on EBay, Vin ted, mrkplace and be making a lot of money. 

[4_bathrooms]

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@suelel1968 wrote:

I'm not sure of the computer terminology, but although you will have two accounts they are linked in the system somehow (IP address maybe) you can only sign into one at a time on the same browser. 

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It is the individual where the OECD digital reporting thresholds are concerned. If two or more accounts are registered to the same individual the thresholds apply to sales across all of that individual's eBay accounts. So if an individual sold 16 items in one account, 10 items on another account and 4 items on yet another account the 30 items threshold would have been met.

eBay certainly links accounts based on things like logging in from a shared physical address at the same time, shared devices and other criteria they won't tell anyone about (linking accounts like this is actually quite trivial to do). However, these "account links" are more concerned with restrictions and bans due to eBay policy violations, not meeting minimum seller standards or owing eBay money. If person A and person B share an address but have separate eBay accounts Person A's digital reporting thresholds are distinct from person B's. However, if person A receives a "permanent selling restriction" on their account there is a good chance person B will also receive one due to their eBay account being linked to person A's.      

[sumnites]

Isnt HMRC increasing 'side hustles' to £3,000 now? shouldnt the number of items be revised as you could sell 30 postcards or 30 stamps and not make a fiver? Bet HMRC would love a self assessment with 'here are my 30 items listed one by one, please check' lol

[sml192]

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@sumnites wrote:

Isnt HMRC increasing 'side hustles' to £3,000 now? shouldnt the number of items be revised as you could sell 30 postcards or 30 stamps and not make a fiver? Bet HMRC would love a self assessment with 'here are my 30 items listed one by one, please check' lol

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The government is proposing to increase the Trading Income Self Assessment reporting threshold from £1,000 to £3,000 by 2029.  It hasn't happened yet.

There is no proposed change to the £1,000 Trading Allowance and the reporting thresholds set by the OECD are completely separate and are the same for all member countries.  

[papso22]

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@sumnites wrote:

Isnt HMRC increasing 'side hustles' to £3,000 now? shouldnt the number of items be revised as you could sell 30 postcards or 30 stamps and not make a fiver? Bet HMRC would love a self assessment with 'here are my 30 items listed one by one, please check' lol

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No, they are not.

[zed1015]

From what i can see multiple accounts from the same individual aren't linked .

[owl904]

The only people who should have access to your NI Number is Gov.uk,  HMRC,  your employer and any pension provider you have. I certainly wouldn't give it to eBay under any circumstances, they don't need it.

[suelel1968]

That will be the end of your selling days then. They do need it to supply with the data to HMRC. I'm sure they would rather not get involved, but they have no choice.

[edwardian-dreams]

Labour have said it will be “by 2029”

😐

Anyway that’s nothing to do with the rules on digital sales reporting 

I must say I don’t understand the 30 items rule part of it either

[gemini-project]

It is 2029 when the £3000 limit comes in.

You must provide eBay your NI when asked ,it's not an eBay rule it's HMRC that have implemented it.

The 30 item rule was probably come up with as an average of what private sellers sell in a year, I know there are a lot that come on here selling a constant stream month in month out but is probably a small amount of the private sellers on eBay.

Privately i sell very little, old clothes go to charity and anything I think I could get some money worth having goes on here , 30 items for me is more than enough yet some want more than 300 a month.

[vinylscot]

Please, let's not get into this nasty anti-private seller nonsense again. 30 items a month may well be enough for you, but the system wasn't set up with only you in mind. A retired person with a large record collection, or stamp collection, for example, could easily list 300 items per month, for years, and have the time to do so.

This was all explained in words of one syllable when the limit was reduced to 300, and most posters acknowledged that 300 was probably a sensible limit. The real "enemy", if you must have one, is not the regular private seller, but the businesses quite clearly operating on private accounts.

[lucy_farmer]

'I must say I don’t understand the 30 items rule part of it either'

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Yep; the money part (£1750 = roughly 2000 Euros which is the money used by the majority of countries in the OECD) makes a certain amount of sense.

But 30 items? ........ that could be 30 items for a pound a go, or 30 diamond rings 🤔

But it was explained as being relevant to a few countries who *are* in the OECD, but who aren't as financially 'sophisticated' as the majority.  

  i.e. where actually things/objects are sometimes more important than money...   I don't want to say 'barter economy ' as it's possibly not quite that basic (and maybe a little insulting?😊 )

[lucy_farmer]

',it's not an eBay rule it's HMRC that have implemented it.'

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It may have been implemented by HMRC,  but they didn't come up with the idea! (they're just the authority in the UK who have to deal with it)

It's a rule thought up by the OECD;  a financial organisation of about 38(?) countries of most of the western world- to try and crack down on online money-laundering.

(It's happening now because officialdom's computers are finally catching up with the ability of private companies' computers to make and move money around online....)

[inpoughkeepsie]

Folk need to stop getting hung up on the '30 item' rule.

Taken from GOV.UK website

If you’re selling personal possessions you probably do not have to pay Income Tax on these.

If you sell an item for more than £6,000, you may need to pay Capital Gains Tax. The £6,000 value for a single personal possession for Capital Gains Tax, also applies to the total value of items which form a set, for example:

• chess pieces
• books by the same author or on the same subject
• matching ornaments, such as vases or statuettes

Example — selling unwanted items

You’re clearing out your attic and decide to sell your unwanted items using online marketplaces. None of the items you sell are worth more than £6,000.

It’s unlikely that you’ll need to tell us about this income or pay any tax, no matter how many items you sell.

[theelench]

It's based on a person's NINO because that's what HMRC uses to calculate a persons total income for tax purposes.

i.e.  During previous tax years I was Self Employed and completing Self Assessment tax return.   Employed within the PAYE system.  Receiving the State Pension (taxable but un-taxed) and receiving a private pension (taxed under PAYE).

I was also selling off some of my glass collection on an ebay private account. 

Ebay wants private seller's NINO as it is a common identifier linking all the above.

It would also be the link between multiple ebay accounts if they exist but probably just as importantly, the link between accounts on multiple selling sites such as amazon or etsy.

IMO it has little to do with money laundering by individuals and a lot more to do with tax evasion by businesses. 

Ebay has little interest in making HMRC tax gathering more efficient but has no choice other than obey HMRC instructions to collect NINOs.  If a seller reaches one of the thresholds and doesn't hand over their NINO ebay has no choice other than to stop them selling on its site.

Personally I wouldn't trust ebay with my NINO so stopped selling here.

[*vyolla*]

One thing that eBay has always been good at is linking accounts and now, as each selling account registered name must match the one on the bank account registered to receive payments, I can't see how anyone can believe that having multiple accounts will enable them to dodge anything.