John Lever
Moderator
Read today that accounts selling over 2000 gbp worth of items per year will be flagged to uk tax authorities.
Doesn't affect me but sobering nevertheless.
Doesn't affect me but sobering nevertheless.
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Ebay and HMRC
- Thread starter John Lever
- Start date
John Lever
Moderator
The very people who have ruined ebay, by asking grossly inflated prices but with no knowledge of what they are selling.
Southoftheborder
Well-Known Member
I saw this a week or so ago and it does on the face of it seem a bit off. If I sell my possessions bought using money I paid tax on why would I expect to pay tax again? A jacket for instance sold for £500 does not represent £500 profit and more often than not is sold for less than the amount paid for it.
But I think the media has got hold of the wrong end of the stick again and what is intended is for part time dealers to be taxed on their profits not people just selling possessions they don't want anymore.
According to one source I read who is a retired tax inspector and who sells his own stuff on eBay that is the intention. And although you might be flagged if you sell more than £1700 in a year - and that figure is different wherever you read it - you will not be asked to fill in a tax return unless they determine that you are a trader for profit.
Clearly eBay will need members' National Insurance numbers if they want to track you and as yet there hasn't been anything on eBay about it. So if they do ask me for mine I won't give it and won't sell there any more. Which is a shame as for all its faults it does have a very wide reach, and I know that if I buy say a jacket that doesn't fit and I haven't paid over the odds I can always get most of my money back. Ditto when I get bored with one.
But if this mooted gross limit was true if would not take many flipped jackets to make me into a trader as far as HMRC was concerned even though I lost money on them.
But I think the media has got hold of the wrong end of the stick again and what is intended is for part time dealers to be taxed on their profits not people just selling possessions they don't want anymore.
According to one source I read who is a retired tax inspector and who sells his own stuff on eBay that is the intention. And although you might be flagged if you sell more than £1700 in a year - and that figure is different wherever you read it - you will not be asked to fill in a tax return unless they determine that you are a trader for profit.
Clearly eBay will need members' National Insurance numbers if they want to track you and as yet there hasn't been anything on eBay about it. So if they do ask me for mine I won't give it and won't sell there any more. Which is a shame as for all its faults it does have a very wide reach, and I know that if I buy say a jacket that doesn't fit and I haven't paid over the odds I can always get most of my money back. Ditto when I get bored with one.
But if this mooted gross limit was true if would not take many flipped jackets to make me into a trader as far as HMRC was concerned even though I lost money on them.
Micawber
Well-Known Member
I think it could well impact what on the face of it are small time sellers who ostensibly appear as though they are selling their own gear but in reality obtain items from the likes of bulk traders and charity institutions at budget prices who then list on Ebay at somewhat inflated prices.
John Lever
Moderator
The trouble with HMRC is that once they send you a tax demand the stress can start and can lead to having to take often very expensive expert advice.
Southoftheborder
Well-Known Member
Clearly they and Dell Boy types are the sort of people it's aimed at but using a sledgehammer to crack a nut can be messy.
John Lever
Moderator
Surely we want these traders off Ebay ?
Prices these days are crazy
Prices these days are crazy
Skyhawk
Well-Known Member
Ebay started charging sales tax on purchases in the USA last year. They are not reporting sellers though and as I understand it, they are just giving the IRS the bulk amount of funds collected. The law in the USA for online sellers is that unless you pass a high threshold, I think it's $100,000, you don't need to track and pay sales tax on individual purchases. You are still supposed to report your income of course, just like it always has been.
Sales tax in the USA is a different depending on the State. It varies. Where I am at in Oregon, there is no sales tax. Somewhere like California is more like 7.25%. That means a seller must collect an extra 7% and then pay that money to the IRS at the end of the year. In Oregon, you don't collect any, so you don't pay any taxes.
Sales tax in the USA is a different depending on the State. It varies. Where I am at in Oregon, there is no sales tax. Somewhere like California is more like 7.25%. That means a seller must collect an extra 7% and then pay that money to the IRS at the end of the year. In Oregon, you don't collect any, so you don't pay any taxes.
Southoftheborder
Well-Known Member
Not if it means that someone like me who just sells stuff I don't want anymore has to pay tax on it. I used to be very much into hi fi and I bought and flipped a lot of expensive equipment over the years. I wasn't trading for profit just trading up mostly. But in some years I would sell thousands of pounds worth of stuff. I wasn't making any money on it, but just like with jackets I was getting back about what I paid for it.
So why would someone like me who is using eBay the way it was first set up to be used to sell unwanted stuff have to pay tax on it just to catch a few bad actors?
John Lever
Moderator
No of course not
