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@yerton_dreamhouse wrote:

Hi, I never said this at all.

What I am saying is that sometimes people have been selling for say at least 7 years the same thing over and over again eg art and antiques. They have clearly sold a lot of value. I have seen someone try to say that all this was an inheritance and they are simply selling it off. In such a case (high value) there will be a paper trail statement to prove it was inherited and if IHT was due, it was paid. But, if there is no paper trail, the HMRC are perfectly entitled to reasonably view it as trading activity and issue an assessment.

I agree it is really easy for private people to sell 30+ items and they are not forced to become business sellers. What I am simply saying is that if you do sell more than 30 items, you should realise that HMRC will get a statement of your sales. If you are entirely comfortable with these being personal items and it doesnt look like trading activity at all, then you should not worry and have no problem. However, if you sell more than 30 items and have been doing so for a number of years, and these items all look like the same type of thing and the activity reasonably looks like trading, then it would be a wise thing to submit tax returns accordingly before an assessment may be sent to you for backdated tax. If you are confident that you can prove that it is not trading eg an IHT statement showing you inherited particular items, then you have nothing to worry about. I am simply advocating that people are not over confident and they make sure they are ready.

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And what about those selling collections? I have collected a lot of things over the years like stamps (and yes a lot were ‘inherited’ but not documented ie when my grandfather died, my grandmother said ‘here, you take these as I know you collect them’ and handed me several boxes full of stamps), glass paperweights, glass tea light holders, glass candy dishes, compacts, costume jewellery, glass buttons, pens…and yes Ive sold quite a number over a couple of decades. But these items I have sold are not a business but I have sold more than 30 transactions. I conduct myself appropriately and vigilantly so sell business items on business ID and my personal stuff on a private ID. I also used to make beaded flowers and jewellery, selling the things I made on my business ID because that was the right way to do it. If I take things out of my business stock for personal use, I account for it, because its the right way to do it. Not all private sellers are trading  inappropriately, even when selling vintage/antique items and many do exceed the thresholds. Not all will have proof they have inherited the items that will tip over the thresholds. If I decide to sell my Nan’s old plates that my mum cleared from her house when she died and then my step father subsequently gave to me when mum died, there is no paper trail for those items and I could potentially receive more than a couple of quid.

Some things are not straight forward. The only thing that is true is that highly valuable antiques may have been formally given in a will but that should not be taken for granted.