Tax on Vinted sales!?

[Lewiscapaldiscat]

Article

I can’t believe what I have read?

so the rich can own 5 properties and that’s a hobby but selling your kids old clothes at a loss is a profit?

you only have to sell £84 month to fall foul of this! (£1000 a year!)

thoughts?

It seems odd to me. Vinted and other things of that kind are a great way to recycle and reduce waste. It really shouldn't be discouraged.

Omg that's ridiculous!!

Any taxes are for people who are buying and reselling to make a profit - not for people who sell on clothes and toys after personal use

It's a loophole otherwise - it seems a small number of people are using those platforms to host their business

I really don't see how owning property and paying tax on Vinted income equates. If you have income from whatever source then you are subject to the relevant tax laws. Simples. Doesn't matter if you're a millionaire or a single mum on benefits, the tax is due equally.

It's always been the case that if you earn more than £1000 you have to fill in a self assessment.

Don't worry though - HMRC simply don't have the staff to do all this. They can't cope with what they do now - there are huge backlogs on everything.

I didn't think you had to pay tax if you were selling your old things? If you had a business selling 2nd hand items then that would be different.

No, you don’t pay tax when you sell your old clothes. You only need to declare/pay tax if you are trading - ie with a profit seeking motive.

I’m a tax adviser so feel free to ask Qs.

Did you read the article? Including this bit:

"HMRC says people selling off clothes or items that they originally bought at a higher price will not be liable for tax on that income."

I have a vinted account and have never sold more than £84 in a month.

I also have never withdrawn any money into my bank account. I always just keep the balance to buy things on vinted. Maybe doing this would get round the rule?

I live in France and use Vinted, we are always taxed at the end of the year

The whole thing is a big joke. HMRC have also told Airbnb to report earnings to them.

HMRC have employed the grand total of 40 full time staff in order to deal with this additional work. At any one time, half of those staff will be off sick/on holiday/training/(not) working from home so that leaves 20 - that won't even touch the surface.

I wouldn't spend a single second worrying about it.

From that article: HMRC says people selling off clothes or items that they originally bought at a higher price will not be liable for tax on that income. I wouldn't get worried quite yet.

Is it the case that you have to declare when you sell over £1k, even if you are selling off your own used clothes? And that this has always been the case?

If you are selling a lot of stuff (really running a business) it might be worth registering as a sole trader you can then offset costs against profits.

If you are earning less than the tax free allowance including your job + income from vinted etc, you still won't pay tax.

Plus it is done automatically - when we completed our tax return here online it popped up with the amount I'd sold on Vinted. It was probably linked to my address. DH was quite shocked how much I'd made selling our kids second hand clothes and toys

How do you prove you are selling off stuff you bought?

Who keeps receipts for every clothing item they buy?

Are you supposed to supply bank statements and somehow demonstrate each purchase relates to each item of clothing you're selling?

What a items family members etc give you and you sell on after use/or don't use - are you supposed to get receipts off them or access to their bank statements?

If you bought them new, then no, apparently.

I suspect it's fairly easy to tell a trader from a normal person.

Surely you don't want to encourage tax evasion by not allowing the HMRC to check ?

It's usually pretty obvious the people who are having a clear out vs people using the platforms as a business.

Usually if its a business there will be multiple options of the same garment etc or everything will be brand new with tags. It's very doubtful a normal clear out seller will be regularly updating with new 'stock' every week etc.

Yes you're right.
I was on a Vinted group for a while and some people do buy and sell pre-loved clothes etc for a profit, eg deliberately buy a bundle of tops at £1 each to then sell on at £5 each as a little side business. So it's the FOR PROFIT bit that people need to understand. Not addressing you here of course, but the amount of people who thought there was no tax implication because it was 'old clothes' whilst missing the fact that they were essentially running a small business was eye opening.

Doesn't this discriminate against people who buy mostly second hand (perhaps because they can't afford to buy new or are eco minded) .. if they want to sell on anything that's in decent condition?

They're saying you can't sell above £89 a month of used goods that you didn't buy new (?)

To me that really discriminates against people who but stuff second hand or are given stuff by family/others who are v unlikely to supply receipts.

No, as presumably you're selling at a loss compared to the price you originally paid.

Selling clothes/shoes for less than original purchase price will not be taxed.

Fair enough.

But some people do buy second hand (and tagged new items) for resale.

Some people do make small businesses out of it.

They may not have multiple items the same and they may list stuff every week or more.

So sone people may still evade tax but the big players will need to pay ?