HMRC to start monitoring sellers on Vinted, eBay and other online platforms

[Somatosensational]

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2024/jan/01/selling-goods-online-be-warned-hmrc-will-soon-know-about-it

I wonder how long it will be before people having a clear out or selling their car have their benefits stopped.

If you are selling as a business of course you should be declaring the income. They are not concerned with us selling a few bits we no longer fit into for a lower price that what we paid - they are looking for bulk sellers operating as a business and evading taxes/falsely claiming benefits

There's a £1000 a year allowance already in place for small/second income businesses, anything over you need to complete a self assessment form

I see. Thank you

Quite.

Chase those people who owe child maintenance too.

I was under the impression you can sell crafts you have made up to £1000 on Etsy/craft markets and that’s still fine as long as you earn no more than that from the side hustle. I sell crafts and make around £500-£700 a year. It’s not much and my materials are probably £300 per year. I spend about 1 day every 2 weeks making crafts to sell. I have to price them lower than it costs to make because customers want the same price as from the high street. I do it to keep myself skilled and productive, even though it’s losing me money and I would earn a lot more picking up shifts in a supermarket.

The requirement for eBay to need lots of personal information, including our National Insurance numbers puts me off selling through them anymore.

Don't be daft. You know the difference between a tax on goods and services and a tax on earnings

HMRC have been doing this for years. This is just the latest reminder that it is very simple to set up as a sole trader if that is what you are.

Selling your own stuff is not the same and not what they are looking for.

I do both and managed to explain why I have 2 eBay accounts. It's quite normal and HMRC aren't stupid.

There's definitely people reselling and making a lot of cash - £2k every couple of months 'from selling the kids clothes' etc - everyone should pay tax, it's just a a basic duty to contribute

Most clothes on vinted look dirt cheap - you'd have to sell a heck of a lot to need to pay tax

Ebay have been sharing data with HMRC for over 15 years - since when I was a regular on the Ebay Business board.

Airbnb have been sharing data with HMRC for over 5 years

Its not a news story.

Those selling chattels remain tax exempt.

They are pursuing debt and evasion of maintenance too.

HMRC rely heavily on handling data, this piece is about tracing those who evade income tax on side income.

3 of the 4 finalists in the last Civil Service data challenge involved HMRC.

One was about child maintenance payments from self employed parents. (These cover approx 17% of parents liable to pay child maintenance but 23% of the backlog)
Partly fraudulent accounting to evade payment and partly the backlogs of processing changes to income

Bear in mind of course that income via eBay could also be hidden from paying both income tax and child maintenance

Good point that any attempt by HMRC to pick up people's under the radar income for tax purposes will also pick up the same income not declared to the CSA.

COVID flushed out quite a few of the self employed figure fiddlers
as they got SEISS money based on their tax returns, not the reality
ha ha ha ha ha

Entertaining yes, but unfortunately a lot of the people who weren't declaring income just carried on working either legally (eg as an eBay trader) or illegally (eg as a visiting hairdresser).

I guess it's better than them claiming furlough payments and also carrying on working illegally which I'm sure some people did.

HMRC have been doing various 'Letter to many' campaigns targeting different groups of workers which puts the onus on the individual to make a voluntary declaration to them if they receive one.

There is an article on it on BBC breakfast this morning

Oh - don't be so ridiculous - classic whataboutery (to use a much-hated turn of phrase.
These 'mates' must be doing very well if they had billions (dollars?) given to them. Furlough was 'given' to millions of 'workers' not a few government 'mates' !

Radio 5 Live was covering it this morning

From January 1st firms including Vinted, Airbnb, and eBay are obliged to collect and share details of such transactions with the tax authorities.

Avoid selling or offering a service on those platforms and sell elsewhere.

I guess it's better than them claiming furlough payments and also carrying on working illegally which I'm sure some people did. It wasn't illegal to work while receiving furlough payments. What was illegal was for an employer to claim the money to pay furlough payments for employees who were still carrying out work for him. But not illegal to be furloughed from one employer and work and be paid by another.

Yes I meant illegal cash in hand working in the existing job, from which you were furloughed, or the analogous self-employed scheme. And "illegal" as in working in a forbidden occupation.

Hopefully they catch people who sell nicked stuff - your profits will be high if you didn’t buy it in the first place

And all those influencers who flog stuff they’ve been gifted. I wonder how many of them declare that income!

Or simply pay your taxes.

@SamphiretheTervosaurReturneth would you be happy to give these platforms your NI number? Genuine question.