eBay Sales - Advice on Declaring it to HMRC

jason.parker.86 · 10 April 2009 at 5:06PM

Hi people,

I have recently been selling on eBay and doing very well on their. My turnover is likely to exceed £20,000 per annum and I would like to complete a self-assessment for this tax year.

My situation is I am employed full time, and the eBay sales is technically an additional income, but I get a bit confused when reading earlier posts about how and where to declare this income on the self-assement form.

I keep reading about the page SE1, but I am not self employed, I am employed and this is additional income. I also read that if you are turning over less than 15,000 GBP then you will only need to declare profit, and if you are doing more than 15,000 then you need to go into a bit more detail.

Does anyone have any idea where on the self-assement form I put all this information?

I have a copy of the SA form here and Question 13 is:

Do you recieve any other taxable income or benefit whch you have not already entered elsewhere in your Tax Return?

Is this where I put my additional income details or am I missing a section but this section does not look detailed enough!

ANy help would be grateful!

THanks

Jason

bluebell13 · 10 April 2009 at 5:09PM

Have you contacted HMRC and informed them you have been trading because I think you have to do so within 3 months of starting trading. Also you are classed as self-employed for your e-bay sales.

jason.parker.86 · 10 April 2009 at 5:11PM

No its pointless until I am confident that I am going to stick with it? In any way I dont think you have to declare it within 3 months, so long as at the end of the tax year you declare the extra income in the self-assesment by the deadline given.!

vangirl_2 · 10 April 2009 at 5:11PM

You are both employed and self employed and because your turnover is more than £15,000 per year you need to fill out the SA103 self employment supplementary pages in full.

It also doesnt matter now whether you inform them or not cause you will have to file the 08/09 self employment pages even if you decide not to continue

jason.parker.86 · 10 April 2009 at 5:13PM

Where is this form on the online self assement - its like a maze!

soolin · 10 April 2009 at 5:13PM

bluebell is correct HMRC need to be informed within 3 months of trading, however, best to let them know now and they will send you additional pages for your self assessment form. I don't know the page numbers you need to ask for though as I do mine online and don't really pay a great deal of notice of page numbers.

You need to declare your employment on one part of the form and your self employment on a different bit and the tax will be calculated on both combined. There will also be additional National Insurance to pay on the ebay income.

As you are turning over more than £20,000 you need to do a full set of accounts and if you are unsure about that maybe it might be worth approaching an accountant for help.

soolin · 10 April 2009 at 5:15PM

jason.parker.86 wrote: »

No its pointless until I am confident that I am going to stick with it? In any way I dont think you have to declare it within 3 months, so long as at the end of the tax year you declare the extra income in the self-assesment by the deadline given.!

Nope sorry, any self employment needs to be declared within 3 months, so technically there will be penalties to be paid but maybe if you explain it was a genuine mistake they might be understanding.

jason.parker.86 · 10 April 2009 at 5:18PM

Yeah I dont mean to come accross arrogant but why pay an accountant to do something that I can do my self?

All ill do is keep receipts, note of all outgoings and incomings and just put it all in a nice neat spreadsheet and voila!

Albeit im sure its not this simple im sure ill manage! Where the accountant is worth the money is how they can tell you what to claim for and what not to claim for, so im sure the £200 or what ever they charge is well covered in what they will save you in tax payments

Anyone got any idea where this bit is online? Can you technically be self employed and employed?!

vangirl_2 · 10 April 2009 at 5:20PM

Soolin is correct with the 3 month rule but if you get your self assesment pages filed asap they may not pick up on the fact that you havent already informed them providing its within the last financial year.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/sa/file-online.htm is for the self assement online home page

Yes you can be employed and self employed although i dont know the implications on you national insurance as I am just self employed

jason.parker.86 · 10 April 2009 at 5:22PM

Yeah but I dont have to fill in the SA till next april because it is sales from April to March 2010?

soolin · 10 April 2009 at 5:24PM

I am both employed and self employed and I imagine several million others are as well. In fact I declare anywhere from 2-4 employments a year plus at least one lot of income from trading as a sole trader.That's why I do it all online, it saves a tree or two.

As for simple accounts they are if your turnover is low, however for larger turnovers you should declare stock levels, depreciation and such like. One of our regulars (can't remember who..any thoughts?) recently got audited and was told there accounts were insuffcient as they didn't have seperate books for stock turnover.

eBay Sales - Advice on Declaring it to HMRC

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