Disabled Ebay Seller's Tax Credits Stopped - Advice Please!

recoverydust

Magic Fairy, I don't doubt that you traded I expectation of earning money. Nor do I doubt the time you were preoccupied with your business.

However it no longer suits the government to massage the unemployment figures and one of the ways this was done in the past was to enable people to operate businesses with minimal earnings, where income was supplemented by tax credits.

You may be able to appeal against the overpayment, and for this you will need good advice and support.

You may well be successful in an application for ESA in either the wrag or support group. Again it is a good idea to get support in filling in the form.

You must also now inform housing benefits and council tax of your change of circumstances so you don't get into arrears there.

Many people are struggling, with eBay, with small businesses and trying to find work. There will be many more people, like you who feel that they had found a workable solution, that gave them dignity and enabled them to have meaningful activity, work, that are going to have the rug pulled from underneath them

Xxx

soolin

OP I think you ar emisreading peoples attempts to help you here. You are becoming defensive and seeing critiscm where there is none, there is a genuine intention to help here.

If we all said 'ooh how terrible, you are being victimised ' I am sure you would prefer our responses, but ultimately what would you have achieved. You still have the authorities telling you that you don't appear to fit the criteria for working the number of hours you state.

You are not alone in being told you do not have a viable business model for the purposes of WTC, there are hundreds, probably thousands of people being told the same. I suspect that every street in England has someone trying to prove they run an ebay business.

All you can do is continue making your returns properly to HMRC and using a few of the hours as part of your claim and finding other work to fill the rest.

Incidentally, have you applied for an exemption to class 2 NIC, and if so how early did you apply- as claiming you won't be earning enough to pay Class 2 might be seen as a suggestion that you never intended to do this properly

Magic_Fairy

shedboy94 wrote: »

Well that goes to show lack of business accumen - ebay fees and costs of materials should be factored into the price you charge - presumably your items are not auction lots? Postage fees.....surely your postage charges would cover the costs of postage??

At the time I thought I had factored the costs in. Strangely customers are more likely to purchase from me if I offer FREE POSTAGE even if I have added the postage cost to the sale price. Sometimes I miscalculate the postage cost and recently postage fees have gone up. Unfortunately I have to compete with other sellers as well so I have had to reduce items to shift stock meaning that sometimes I have to let things go for a loss.

mildred1978

If you were so dependent on your support worker to buy stock and post items, how are you doing that now that you don't have one?

Anubis_2

Magic_Fairy wrote: »

I was trading in expectation of payment and WAS paid for the sales I made. Unfortunately after ebay fees, paypal fees, postage costs and the cost of the items themselves I made a loss that tax year. That doesn't mean that I was not trading in expectation of being paid. I was paid, I just didn't make a profit.

ESA is a fairly new benefit and I haven't claimed it because I was already claiming Tax Credits - in the past I was making a profit from my ebay sales. Also I was told I would have to attend meetings and training courses which I cannot do without a Support Worker which I no longer have.

Also, I have tried claiming other benefits in the past and was told I could only claim Tax Credits because I was running a business! I can't win!

You need to claim ESA.

Have you not got a carer? You may not have to attend meetings and courses, it depends what group you are put in. Also if you are as disabled as you say, you may be able to arrange to have interviews over the phone and it is probably unlikely you will have to attend training courses (although I am not sure.)

If you have lost your support worker you can't continue with ebay anyway as you said your support worker has to go with you to buy stock etc, so your option now is ESA and you need to stop ebay now as carrying on will only serve as a contradiction to you stating to HMRC that you need a support worker.

I would also consider what sixer says, if appealing, give a more realistic time of 16 hours a week, then you may have a chance the overpayment will be reduced but you must get advice from a qualified source, such as a Welfare rights officer if you can.

If you carry on with the "takes an hour to do a listing" etc I fear you will not be successful in your appeal.

soolin

"takes an hour to do a listing" etc I fear you will not be successful in your appeal.

I agree.

I sell antiques and collectables which means that each item is unique, I have to carefully assess condition and take a numbr of photos (I use photobucket to keep my listing costs down which all takes time). My items require careful packing, all of which takes time. However I know my market, I have an approx 85% sell through rate (slightly dipped during Wimbledon for which I whinged a lot on the ebay boards) , if it took me anywhere near an hour to do a single listing my business would not be viable.

soolin

Just to add, would it be of any help if you do want to keep ebay as a side line to come onto the ebay board (see my sig) to get specific advice about cutting listing costs and ebay/paypal fees. maybe even see if some of your items might be better suited to posting by courier?

Magic_Fairy

Hi. I am sorry if I have come across as defensive. I just feel upset that some people on here think I am deliberately flouting a loophole and disbelieve the hours that I have put into my business.

I had a Support Worker because I developed agoraphobia after I collapsed on a bus due to my disability. My elderly Father sometimes takes me to the Post Office and I also have a friend who helps occasionally although due to their own commitments they would not be able to spend the time attending training courses etc with me for ESA purposes. I only recently lost my Support Worker and the Tax Credit Office are looking at the period April 2011-2012 during which I did have one. I did not only buy stock when I went out with my Support Worker, I also purchased stock online.

soolin

Magic_Fairy wrote: »

Hi. I am sorry if I have come across as defensive. I just feel upset that some people on here think I am deliberately flouting a loophole and disbelieve the hours that I have put into my business.
.

You'll find a great many people here dabble with ebay so do have an idea of the time and effort it takes. You are also not the only one who has been contacted by the authorities with a deision to recall overpaid credits- and I don't suppose you'll be the last by any means.

Dunroamin

recoverydust wrote: »

Many people are struggling, with eBay, with small businesses and trying to find work. There will be many more people, like you who feel that they had found a workable solution, that gave them dignity and enabled them to have meaningful activity, work, that are going to have the rug pulled from underneath them

Xxx

It's equally valid to argue that the system is being tightened up because of the number of people who have been abusing it. This is particularly the case where people on JSA are using the WTC system as a way of avoiding the Work Programme and other back to work schemes..