Starting own business from new tax year April25 ADVICE

[mw_music1]

Hi there - just abit of advice please ? 

im starting my own small business from April 7th 2025( new tax year) using my existing private eBay account! 

im buying and selling various items which will make profit! I’m aware to register with HMRC for self assessment!  And the £1000 tax threshold

my questions are 

1. - when do I register? Is it straight away or after I’ve traded for a whole tax year 25/26?( by 5th oct 26)  And then do return? Submit by jan 27? 

2.- I’ve made a spreadsheet to record sales plus postage minus expenses (what I paid for item)to work out profit for each item I sell for each month 

IS THIS CORRECT FIGURE TO Submit? 
3.- I’ve set up a business account just to buy stock from  and for sales to be paid into ! 

Have done research just getting clear in my mind from others that do this already? 

many thanks 🙂

[lucy_farmer]

Hello mw,

First thing ; you are setting up your business account to sell from I hope ? (sorry your post wasn't 100% clear on this!) 

You mentioned you were starting your small business from your existing  private account....?  Hopefully that means you're converting the private account into a business account (because you can't run a business on a private account)

And secondly : there seems to be something funny going on with the connection between your posting account *here* and your ebay account.... clicking on your account brings up an 'error page'.....

[davidninetynine]

You will need to change your ebay accout from "private" to "business", or you'll eventually get into trouble from ebay (and a whole bunch of contributors on here who think they are the Internet Police). I think a business account has various useful options to help keep track of your sales, and you won't get the new buyer's fees added to yout listing prices.

You should register for self assessment as soon as you start trading, it's very easy and all the information is on the gov.uk website.

If you are good with spreadsheets and rigorously keep receipts and invoices, you won't need an accountant, at least to begin with. I used to provide technical services on a self-employed basis and did my own accounts, but it was quite simple as I wasn't buying and selling goods.

(edit to add  -message crossed with Lucy's, I think she's a faster typist than me...)

[dch2112011]

If you set up a self calculating spread sheet, you need to include not only the fixed costs but also include  the, item volume,damaged goods percentage,  fees, advertising, VAT, seller discounts, volume discounts, average return costs including return postage and/ or net cost losses and percentage profit - if set up correctly the spread sheet will calculate your sell price by filling in the costs and by adding the percentage profit you want or will calculate the percentage profit if you add the sell price. It will also keep count of your stock levels

You can also add packed weight and size and set it up to calculate your  postal costs if you use averaging - this helps if you have a price competition and you want to reduce or remove postal costs  to compete  on an item and the formula will increase the other line items postage to compensate for any negative postal cost.

You can do all this manually but it is very much easier to keep track if you set up spreadsheets 

This is particularly useful to get a real understanding of what profit you are projecting on each line and what affect a sale, voucher or promotion has in real terms - this is a must for any online business when using a platform, otherwise you can end up a busy fool.

[twin--turbo]

You have to register by 5th of October on the year following your trading.  So if you start trading from this april you would register for Self Assessment  by 5/10/26 , complete return  by 31/1/27 and pay by 31/1/28

[mw_music1]

Thanks all for your input! 

I thought a business account would be the thing to do! 
…, is it somthing I can do to convert my existing account or do I need to set up a complete new one? 
 Many thanks 

[susapric-68]

Seems like you have most covered. twin--turbo covered the when you have to register and put in a self assessment. Keep a track of everything and receipts. On my spread sheet I made the last page add up all the finances so when i put in a self assessment I just pick the quick option and add the total outgoings and incomings into that and it works out if i owe anything. As I have all the info to hand I do it the first day of the new tax year so it's out of the way. Takes about the same time as a kettle boiling

[papso22]

---

@mw_music1 wrote:

Thanks all for your input! 

I thought a business account would be the thing to do! 
…, is it somthing I can do to convert my existing account or do I need to set up a complete new one? 
 Many thanks 

---

You can convert your existing account, good luck with your business venture!

[suelel1968]

Hi, i would set up a new business account rather than transfer over, you cannot change back. Either way you can have a separate private account as well. Make sure you are fully aware of all the business fees on ebay before you get going - it is very different. 

The spreadsheet is the best tool for monitoring your sales and purchases and direct costs, but it is not all you can claim. The following is taken from the Govt website. You workplace can be your own home. 

Costs you can claim as allowable expenses

These include:

office costs, for example stationery or phone bills

travel costs, for example fuel, parking, train or bus fares

clothing expenses, for example uniforms

staff costs, for example salaries or subcontractor costs

things you buy to sell on, for example stock or raw materials

financial costs, for example insurance or bank charges

costs of your business premises, for example heating, lighting, business rates

advertising or marketing, for example website costs

training courses related to your business, for example refresher courses

You cannot claim expenses if you use your £1,000 tax-free ‘trading allowance’.

[cassidy_r_private]

Depends on the standing of the existing private account. If there's 100% positive feedback on there and some sort of history it will give him a marketing advantage over a brand new account with zero feedback.

[suelel1968]

Thats true too. I buy alot, and i never look at feedback until something goes wrong though. My thinking was that changing over keeps  the history of your private account with the new business account, my preference would be a fresh start. Also depends on how much you want to carry on using a private account and if stuff is on there that needs transferring over. Good point though. 

[mw_music1]

Thank you for the info! 

could I register as soon as I start selling?  Or is it best to trade for the full tax year April25/26 and then as u mentioned above register by 5/10/26? Or does it not matter when I do it as long as it’s before that date? 

[*vyolla*]

I'd upgrade this existing one (as it has some feedback) to a business account. Using a desktop browser (not the app), go to your Personal Information in your account and to the right of Account Type, which will be showing as 'Individual'  you'll see an Edit option.

https://accountsettings.ebay.co.uk/profile

To create a new private account to list your personal items on just sign up again with the same details but a different email address (each eBay account requires its own unique email address).

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/account/signing-ebay-account/signing-ebay-account?id=4191&st=3&pos=5&que...

[twin--turbo]

there is no point registering early if you have no accounts to submit, if however your worried that you have been doing a bit on the side, then get registered and fill out an SA to keep the tax person happy, even if you have made a loss.

[mw_music1]

Thank no not started selling yet! So will do it once the year has past! 👍