Online sellers offered chance to settle tax bills

pseudopensioner

Would not advocate nor encourage tax avoidance/tax evation.

As a little light relief from a serious matter, I pondered on my childhood, when as regular as clockwork would appear on my street and within the surrounding areas, the fresh milk/egg seller/ knife sharpener/home grown vegetable & salad stuff seller/ice cream & ice lollipop seller/rag & bone man/window cleaners/chimney sweepers... omg I still recall my parents extolling the virtues of the "knocker upper".

Very few people had telephones in those days but there was the telegram service! Printing? oh yes, that was for newspapers and books.

Generally, available services were achieved by word of mouth and from door knocking, or you knew the local taxi /coach/charabang service from seeing their vehicles pass by you, speed was much slower in those days. The local newspaper did advertise funeral services, you only read them when in need.

Most services were delivered either by horse and cart/ bicycle and/or cart /hand pushed or dragged cart, though I do recollect that the coal merchant had a motorised vehicle.

I don't though ever recollect any of the "traders" being persued by tax collectors either on horseback or bicycles demanding to know all the details of their trading. Wouldn't have recognised one anyway. Don't think they wore badges or identifying insignia then (or now).

The only paper trails I remember from my childhood ( still have a few which may become ephemera on ebay one day) are rent books/ration books/ electricity & gas bills etc. and oh yes the stamped ( all receipts had an affixed postage stamp) and dated receipt for our very first television.

Thought I'd give you a little insight to yesteryear.:)


George Orwell wrote about it and here we are. Big Brother Is Watching You.

If you've done nothing wrong you needn't be concerned, just make make sure you've read, reread, checked and understood all the terms and conditions on any paperwork before you assign your name (or ticked the box on the PC)

ETA. I'm sure in those days most folks kept copperplate accounts of their transactions. People tended to be a little more respectful of authority and the law.

WhateverNext

I am not a lawyer or account (disclaimer sorted)
If you buy items with intention to sell you ARE a trader hence the dictionary definition.
However if you sell your personal items, you are not. (selling 100 new teddies and trying to convince HMRC they are personal possessions will not wash, but selling a collection of teddies from your youth would) and let's face it everyone who is trading knows they are whatever they may say!
One proviso is; selling SOME personal items WILL incure capital gains tax (most chattels are exempt) and if you are seen to carry out this activity a lot you will be DEEMED to be trading.
VAT: You can only charge VAT if you are registered and should quote your number on sale invoice/receipt. If you are charged VAT your supplier must give you their VAT number. If your supplier is not VAT registered/charging VAT but you are then you use the margin method. Sale Price excl VAT (a) - Purchase Price (b) * 20% is VAT element to add to price (a). there is a downloadable form for this on hmrc.gov.uk.

Think that pretty much sums it up in one post.
Happy Trading (or not as the case may be)

ballisticbrian

Is it just me, or does anyone find it ironic that on a consumer web site where people regularly discuss how eBay seller shouldn't make profit on postage, and a general distrust of eBay sellers making money out of people, and yet the HMRC are here trying to find some tax they can squeeze out of people... somewhere, somehow.
While the government sees fit to bail out the banks and pump billions into quantitative easing, buying huge assetts from big corporations, and once again, they turn to the little man with cap in hand. Call me cinical.
So guys, without meaning to discredit the government and annoy everyone on here in one fell swoop, next time someone adds 5 pence on the postage and says, "that's for the tax man" are you going to complain as usual???

soolin

ballisticbrian wrote: »

Is it just me, or does anyone find it ironic that on a consumer web site where people regularly discuss how eBay seller shouldn't make profit on postage, and a general distrust of eBay sellers making money out of people, and yet the HMRC are here trying to find some tax they can squeeze out of people... somewhere, somehow.
While the government sees fit to bail out the banks and pump billions into quantitative easing, buying huge assetts from big corporations, and once again, they turn to the little man with cap in hand. Call me cinical.
So guys, without meaning to discredit the government and annoy everyone on here in one fell swoop, next time someone adds 5 pence on the postage and says, "that's for the tax man" are you going to complain as usual???

I'm not sure what point you are trying to make but everyone who trades pays taxes, why do we need to add another 5p onto postage to cover this- it is hardly new news.

I think complaining about people paying the tax that is legitimately assessed is an entirely different argument to anything else being discussed here.

ballisticbrian

I am making a point about the juxtaposition between the recent swathe of posts on not making profit out of ebay buyers and the tax man asking for money from the sellers. get it?

ballisticbrian

He is posting on a consumer web site after all, not a business site.

soolin

ballisticbrian wrote: »

I am making a point about the juxtaposition between the recent swathe of posts on not making profit out of ebay buyers and the tax man asking for money from the sellers. get it?

If you make a loss though you don't pay any tax.

ballisticbrian

soolin wrote: »

If you make a loss though you don't pay any tax.

Agreed. The tax man is clutching at straws here on this web site.

soolin

ballisticbrian wrote: »

Agreed. The tax man is clutching at straws here on this web site.

I think you are correct if you mean this ebay board part of MSE as I'm sure we are all properly registered. However it is not uncommon on other boards to have people buying to resell either second hand or even from wholesalers who strongly object to people telling them they are trading as they don't believe they are, they believe they are just making a bit on the side to make ends meet.

Look at the community boards on ebay as well, lots of threads from people mentioning this or that and when looking at their accounts you see they are drop shipping or selling quantities of brand new items via an ebay shop and who still inasist they are not really businesses.

For some pople being a business has nothing to do with buying or making to sell, but all to do with having a business premises or a real shop.

I've seen a lot of people caught and be absolutely shocked that the DWP or HMRC think they are a business when all they do is drop ship a few dozen items every week to earn holiday money.

However whilst I am aware that the HMRC rep has revisited this thread I would say that all those I am aware of that have been caught have been turned in by friends or relatives and mainly it is the DWP that gets them first. I do not really believe there is any clever mechanism for catching people otherwise.

Strapped

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3891441

Just saying.