Tax discussion -was -At the risk of being flamed !!

dbonbon

You may be best registering your company in The Cayman Islands or Bahamas for tax purposes. Speak to an international corporate lawyer to find out more.

soolin

dbonbon wrote:

You may be best registering your company in The Cayman Islands or Bahamas for tax purposes. Speak to an international corporate lawyer to find out more.

Oh please...

The costs of dealing off shore and running the problems associated with being an overseas company will more than outweigh the benefit of trying to hoodwink HMRC.
For a start have you any idea how much an hour with an international corporate lawyer would cost :eek:

steve1905

arushofblood wrote:

Now don't laugh at my ignorance here VAT registration is different to tax registration then ? Wonder why they called me though ? Perhaps my turnover is 60k a year without me realising it !!

Surely, tax implications must have crossed your mind if you were trading to the extent where, possibly, you should be vat registered? Or has the possibility of
being detected concentrated your mind?

larmy16

I am already self employed and have sold a few things on ebay, but mostly my own stuff, things I had bought (I have an obsession with old telephones), and usually at a loss.

However I have been selling books on Amazon and intend to declare my profits from that, but as Soolin says it is surprising how little you make when you offset it against postage, packaging, petrol etc.

Yes the prisons are full up, but the government will always find a space for someone who is in their eyes comitting fraud - you can get community service for GBH but woe betide anyone found not declaring any extra income!

mishkanorman

steve1905 wrote:

Surely, tax implications must have crossed your mind if you were trading to the extent where, possibly, you should be vat registered? Or has the possibility of
being detected concentrated your mind?

Im in near enough the same boat and genuinely believed that as i wasnt making any 'profit' it didnt matter.

The whole mine field of tax is so daunting that many people just dont know where to begin, rather than sitting there rubbing their hands together as they count their piles of gold !


mishka

steve1905

mishkanorman wrote:

Im in near enough the same boat and genuinely believed that as i wasnt making any 'profit' it didnt matter.

The whole mine field of tax is so daunting that many people just dont know where to begin, rather than sitting there rubbing their hands together as they count their piles of gold !


mishka

With due respect, if someone is trading on ebay to the extent of £60 k turnover, I would hope they are making a profit. Otherwise, maybe they should consider a different career.

nightswimmer

steve1905 wrote:

Surely, tax implications must have crossed your mind if you were trading to the extent where, possibly, you should be vat registered? Or has the possibility of
being detected concentrated your mind?

I think you have misunderstood the OP, they were joking when they said about having a 60K per year turn over without realising it.

martindow

You may well find that when you subtract ebay/paypal fees, postage expenses, packaging, expenses of getting to the PO (IR allow 40p/mile if you drive) for a small turnover you might not actually be making any profit. The problem will be if you haven't kept records and receipts. You can still be considered as ebaying for a hobby if you can show you are breaking even or worse. The IR do not want people saying they are self employed and posting a loss at the end of the year to set against their other taxable income - they want you to be making a real profit (to be taxed!).

You can see many accountants for an initial free half hour consultation so I would phone around and go to a few of these to seek their advice. My inclination on your situation is to go to the IR and be totally honest about it everything. Ignorance is not considered an excuse but being open about it and asking for their help and advice on what to do is much better than them investigating you. Good luck with it all.

arushofblood

steve1905 wrote:

Surely, tax implications must have crossed your mind if you were trading to the extent where, possibly, you should be vat registered? Or has the possibility of
being detected concentrated your mind?

I hadn't thought about being VAT registered at all, ( I just don't understand all this stuff ) only that I ought to now be looking into declaring stuff to the taxman now that the 'business' was looking to be on the up. I didn't realise that there were two processes involving tax. Sure, the possibilty of being 'detected' has crossed my mind but purely because of the profits now being made and now my knowledge of what needs to be done on my part ( or as I now know, what nedded to be done on my part ). Yes, the phone call this morning has made my concentrate my mind further.

I started a hobby, it turned into a money making thing, I'm now looking to improve my ignorance and do what I need to do, thant's all.

arushofblood

nightswimmer wrote:

I think you have misunderstood the OP, they were joking when they said about having a 60K per year turn over without realising it.

Thanks nightswimmer, was just about to reply with the same thing !!!