HMRC to start checking online sellers eg Vinted, Ebay etc. from January 2024

[2024Hackathon]

Anyone selling used clothes on Vinted, renting out their home on Airbnb, or getting rid of old camera equipment on eBay is going to come under fresh scrutiny from the taxman, following a crackdown on income earned from online trading.
From 1 January, HM Revenue & Customs will require digital platforms to collect information on how much their users make.

Countless sellers who have never declared their income from these sites could soon be on HMRC’s radar and face the prospect of large bills, or even fines, if they do not adhere to the law.
Dawn Register, head of tax dispute resolution at accountancy firm BDO, says HMRC could already request the information from UK-based digital platforms on an ad hoc basis, “but the new rules, coming into force from January 2024, mean that this information will start to flow automatically – and globally”.

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

I'm sorry but I think it's utterly wrong that people can be charged for selling on their second hand clothes. I get that people use the sites for their businesses. What's the limit before you're liable for tax?

Well they're not looking for people just selling a few bits and bobs - they'll be looking for Traders actually running a business buying in stock to resell.

Easy to identify

There’s another thread already on this.

You won’t be charged for selling your old clothes. If that is all you are doing. Because, although you have to declare it in a self assessment tax return, you won’t make a profit if you sell your clothes second hand for less than you bought them for.

My issue with this is, I do not want to give a website like eBay so much personal data, they’re not having my NI number and if that’s what they have to have in order for me to sell on there, I’ll stop selling on there. Simple.

Good. There are so many obvious businesses listing as personal
/private sellers on these platforms and cheating their customers as a result (not complying with Consumer Contracts rules on returns, publishing a business address, etc).

They make things very difficult for those who take their businesses seriously.

You can make £1,000 per year from online trading without triggering a tax liability on it. But if you are selling your own secondhand goods then you are usually not making a profit: it is if you are buying and selling that you’ll trigger the liability.

I thought they’d done all this years ago with eBay. Surely Vinted is just another site to add to the list.

The £1000 a year trading allowance is turnover not profit so you could easily sell £1000 worth of personal items in a year.

True, but you still have to make a profit in order to trigger tax. Selling your own secondhand clothes for less than you bought them for would not trigger a liability.

I do not want to give a website like eBay so much personal data, they’re not having my NI number

It all feels a bit invasive and risky having so many platforms with my information. I know some of the apprehension about it is overblown but it feels like a dystopian step towards social credit and monitoring.

I only buy on these platforms, I don't sell. I'd stop buying if it became yet another way of being monitored as a potential money launderer.

Currently the reporting is just for sellers. Similar rules came in for EU sites from 1 January 2023.