selling private collection inform IR ?

jehangir

Hi , can anyone please advise me , I have been unemployed for the last year and with no job on the horizon ( I do not claim benefit ) I need to sell some stuff to raise some cash .

I have an large collection of musical instruments / books ( some quite expensive ) which I have purchased over the last -10 years which I would like to sell on eBay .

I have been given conflicting advice , some people say just to sell it on eBay as an private seller but others say I need to go self employed and inform IR otherwise I will be asking for trouble.

I have receipts for an few of the items but others were either gifts or picked up from pawnbrokers /

Any help will be much appreciated

McKneff

If you are selling your own stuff there is no need to inform HMRC.

If you are buying stuff to sell, it could be seen as a business so in that case you would have to declare any earning.s

Just curiosity, why dont you claim benefits, do you think you arent entitled to them.

jehangir

hi thanks for the reply , i should have said that i am not entiltled to benefit due to savings.

I am just concerned due to the fact that i am not working ( i am not paying NI ) .My collection is quite large and valuable (i have not got receipts as they were brought privately ) .

Most need to go as i may have to move to an much smaller home .
thanks again

McKneff

If you are job hunting you should be able to claim JSA (if you have enough NI credits)

I think even if you are not job hunting you should be going to the JC to enable you to get NI credits, this has an impact on future benefits it sick pay etc. It also has an impact far into the future on your state pension.

Sorry, dont mean to interfere but you may not realise this and just trying to help.

patman99

You are still entitled to sign-on. You may not get any benefits, but your NI will be paid.This could be crucial in the future as you need 30 years worth of NI to get a full pension. For each year under, your pension reduces by 1/30th.
Personally, I would only begin to sell stuff once my savings have dropped below £1k, then only sell one item every once in a while in order to keep on top of my bills.
Btw, Ebay may not be the best place to sell. You may get more at a specialist auction.

jehangir

Thanks for the information it is much appreciated , I thought if my savings were over an certain amount I would not be able to get my national insurance paid by Sigining on ( can I pay for the year I have lost or get It back dated).

My collection consists of around 100 items but I have come to realise that most need to go due to the lack of space ( takes up 2 rooms ) , I will be getting back just about what I paid on the items due to the current market.

How would I be able to prove that the items are from my person collection rather than being brought to sell on for profits if I do not have the receipts and the amount being turned over .

mrsyardbroom

It's a bit of a grey area with HMRC but as long as you're not making a profit on the purchase price you should be OK. Why not give one of their helplines a ring just to make sure? They are very helpful and will give you all the advice you need.

patman99

Yes, you can pay NI for any missed years. My oh will have to pay for at least 5 to get a full pension.
As for determining whether or not it is personal stuff, if you still have the receipts then hold on to them just in case. HMRC are not stupid. They do work with ebay to track undeclared businesses, but when they see you listing single items instead of multiples of the same thing, they will realise you are just having a clear-out.

If by some luck, you do manage to sell an item for more than you paid for it, then unless you make more than your annual capital gains tax allowance, they still won't be interested.