Preparedness for when

nuatha

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

Just got this link to a post over on the eBay boards that newshadow started..

From a prepper point of view what does this mean? Is it the start of the end of selling your unwanted hoarded possessions, or your hobby makes etc without declaring or paying tax on them??
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=70328398&postcount=4

The beginning of that end was about 6 years ago, when Ebay and Paypal started to push selling caps without business accounts and started requiring details to prove you weren't a trader - a friend was clearing his Dad'd bike parts from the shed and workshop so he could sell the house, when the prove you're not a business communications started (ebay, then a frozen Paypal account, then an invite from the local tax office, via his accountant).
If you're selling items produced as a hobby, then you are probably better off treating it as a business and declaring it so that you can deduct the spends off your taxes - most hobbies would yield much of a profit this way - and that's why the link shows that less than £1000 profit doesn't have to be declared - actually an improvement from this point of view.

GreyQueen wrote: »

Dunno, CTC, but HMRC are laying of a helluva lot of staff and closing more and more offices, so it's a great time to be a tax evader as your odds of getting caught are pretty low, and shrinking every month.

If I sound a tad bitter, one of my oldest pals works for HMRC and is one of those affected and will be out of a job later this year.:(

Sorry to read about your friend.
The cutbacks also mean that its far harder to get answers to actual problems (the issue above was resolved mainly because there was a local office with the ability and willingness to explain)

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

GQ.. That's awful. But sadly your friend is not alone with n losing their job because of this government... It just doesn't make sense! The country is on its knees, and they cut back on the department ( hmrc) that got the powers to get the tax avoiders etc..

Do you think they are trying to get us a bit like the us?? Where (I think) everyone has got to fill in a tax return)??

So with what the government has said, does that mean potentially they can have any information they ask for , from online selling platforms, shopping carts, worldpay card payments that alot of small traders, hobby sellers use, small websites??

As I am sure alot of people selling stuff online and use PayPal. Instead of transferring money into their normal bank accounts, spend the money online using PayPal. So there is no trace of it on their bank statements especially if they claim benefits.

All Paypal transactions are linked to a supposed real world ID (bank account) and can be reported to HMRC - Paypal and Ebay have a legal duty to determine if you are a trader and if so, report you.
There have been several successful prosecutions of ebay traders who claimed benefits - one of them happened to someone living a few hundred yards from me.

The supposed advantage of bitcoin was that its untraceable transactions, but as soon as it is used for a purchase then the purchaser can be traced, spending above your apparent income is still a trigger for benefit/tax fraud investigators - though they are going to be increasingly buried under paperwork with there being so few of them left. Increasingly the burden will be to prove you are innocent, with frozen online accounts or automatic assessments and deductions (and penalties) levied against the online accounts and Joe Public left to try to appeal unfair deductions.

maryb

Capital gains tax for non residents selling UK property. I simply do not understand why this continues. Foreign"investors" buying up whole developments of new build flats, sitting on them and releasing them to the market as the price rises. Rising house prices are not generating real wealth, it is bringing forward wealth from the future at the cost of making young people into (even bigger) debt slaves. That brought forward wealth is then exported without a penny of UK tax being paid.

It isn't as if it would be hard to identify a sale by a foreign owner, just have a requirement to withhold tax from the sales proceeds

COOLTRIKERCHICK

So all these measures, plus all the talk/ thoughts of a cashless society all fit together ..

If I were in power the first thing I would do is sort out all the childish behaviour I was watching some of the budget and its disgusting. They are talking about serious issues and decisions that will effect people's lives and all they are interested is getting one up on their aponant .. So no heckling allowed.

Buy/ build a large hotel/ conplex just outside London and this will be used to house mps when they are in London. So no second home allowance to be given.
No food expense allowance, as you got to eat anyway, where ever you are.

No employing spouse, as secretaries etc..
No deals/ contracts to be given to companies which have a direct personal link with a main member of parliament

Random drug tests on all mps like any other job

And this is just to start with

Frugalsod

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

Just got this link to a post over on the eBay boards that newshadow started..

From a prepper point of view what does this mean? Is it the start of the end of selling your unwanted hoarded possessions, or your hobby makes etc without declaring or paying tax on them??
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=70328398&postcount=4

It looks like if your eBay income is below a £1000 it does not make you a trader but if you are clearing old items but not buying stuff for resale then you do not have to declare it, as long as it is below a certain amount. I think it will impact those actually trading on eBay and the government will have a good idea of those people. They will be the ones selling hundreds of a certain type of thing. This might impact those on Etsy more as they might be making a number of the same object but again will be easy for the inland revenue to identify.

maryb

Tbh I don't really have an issue with MPs employing spouses if there is a real job involved not just make work. They would have to employ someone anyway.

Frugalsod

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

So all these measures, plus all the talk/ thoughts of a cashless society all fit together ..

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

If I were in power the first thing I would do is sort out all the childish behaviour I was watching some of the budget and its disgusting. They are talking about serious issues and decisions that will effect people's lives and all they are interested is getting one up on their aponant .. So no heckling allowed.

I think that the opposition need to be able to criticise things. Plus when you hear the government back benches cheer for benefit cuts you really know what they think of the poor. It cuts both ways.

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

Buy/ build a large hotel/ conplex just outside London and this will be used to house mps when they are in London. So no second home allowance to be given.
No food expense allowance, as you got to eat anyway, where ever you are.

This is done in the US to an extent. They will get a block booking in a hotel for all state senators and representatives and you get no choice of hotel or have to make your own alternatives but you will not get reimbursed for any expenses.

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

No employing spouse, as secretaries etc..

Even the UN bans any nepotism. If you have a relative in the UN you are disqualified from even applying to work for the organisation.

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

No deals/ contracts to be given to companies which have a direct personal link with a main member of parliament

Make it a criminal offence with serious gaol time for the civil servant or company board for any attempts at bypassing such a rule.

Personally I think we need to make it a criminal offence for companies to even make any political donations. Only Uk citizens can make a donation and that should be capped at £500 per person and making a donation on behalf of others should also be banned. Make political parties suffer austerity as well.

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

Random drug tests on all mps like any other job

I suspect that they would all fail the alcohol limits.

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

And this is just to start with

No mention of nooses or guillotines? :cool:

Frugalsod

maryb wrote: »

Capital gains tax for non residents selling UK property. I simply do not understand why this continues. Foreign"investors" buying up whole developments of new build flats, sitting on them and releasing them to the market as the price rises. Rising house prices are not generating real wealth, it is bringing forward wealth from the future at the cost of making young people into (even bigger) debt slaves. That brought forward wealth is then exported without a penny of UK tax being paid.

It isn't as if it would be hard to identify a sale by a foreign owner, just have a requirement to withhold tax from the sales proceeds

It really should apply to every home. It creates a massive loophole for those who own property. It should also be at a much higher rate which would also not reward the elites at the expense of everyone else. If you are a company director you might make most of your income via capital gains rather than from employment and you get the perverse outcome that your overall tax rate is lower than your employees even though you earn far more than they do.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

I agree frugalsod about the need for the opposition to debate, no question about that, but it's the insulting, sniggering type heckling that gets right on my boobs!!!

Good idea about the capping of cash donations by individuals, but this should be for other types of donations too, as if it's only for cash donations, then other things like hard goods, cars, properties donated to use for area offices, the use of hotels by businesses to be used for conferences. Food supp!ied .for functions by business people after a favour etc..

Frugalsod

The sniggering just exposes them as pathetic individuals.

Capping cash donations could easily be extended to every form of assistance including offering working for free, loans of cars or equipment. Plus make any such donations criminal with gaol time for all company board members under the joint enterprise legislation, the same legislation that they prosecute gangs for. In addition make it a tax evasion offence with serious fines for the company involved.

Frugalsod

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

So all these measures, plus all the talk/ thoughts of a cashless society all fit together ..

I doubt that there is a grand Machiavellian plan to enslave the population as some think.

The majority of economists who follow a neoliberal neoclassical version of economics are bewildered why things are not booming. So they logically think that negative interest rates are the next step. Unfortunately they are being mislead to think that going cashless is the only way to make this work otherwise we will all simply take out our money from the banks and hide it under the mattress which is very logical and rational. The real reason they are pushing this idea so much now is that if we are cashless then the banks will hold everyone hostage by saying unless you bail us out you have no money. Bank runs are impossible for all but the very rich and well connected who will transfer their money offshore just before the crisis just like the rich did in Greece before capital controls were brought in.

They are using crime and terrorism as an excuse to ban cash, but this is a red herring. We are being lied to.