Disposing of the remains of self employment

BorgleBoo

Around 2 years ago I was unemployed. While I was job seeking I paid about £1200 to have the components of several barbecues manufactured, which I hoped to assemble and sell online. It was not intended to be a commercial venture. I wanted to see if it had the possibility of being a viable business.

I contacted HMRC and asked if I had to register as self employed. I explained that I was highly unlikely to make a profit. Nonetheless they told me I needed to register and I did. I was later told by another person at HMRC that this was a mistake and I should not have had to register as self employed at all.

During the year (as a result of being self employed) I had to file a declaration with my local housing benefit office declaring my profits. Every month I wrote a big fat 0 on the form.

At the end of the year it was clear that a small entrepreneur cannot possibly sell these sorts of things at a price that would begin to make a profit. I was still £900 down on my original investment. I gave up on the idea and went back to university. I informed HMRC that I was no longer self employed.

The remaining unsold barbecues sat in pieces in the shed for the last 2 years. I finally got sick of looking at them, so I assembled a few. I have swapped a few away in non-cash trades on a few online trading sites, and have sold 3 of them for cash. In each case the amounts involved were far lower than the costs of the materials involved.

When looking at the HMRC website they specified that income must be declared if you "make items yourself and sell them, intending to make a profit" (my emphasis).

I do not intend to make a profit, and to do so would not be possible anyway.

In the last 2 months I have spent £110 on new tools to assemble them and postage, and have received £74 in cash sales. This does not include the (small) items I traded some barbecues for.

Do I need to declare my online swaps and sales to anyone? We are currently in receipt of benefits.

Thank you for any advice.

Ypaymore

Tax Board probaly a better board to get answer your questions.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=22

BorgleBoo

Thanks for the info, and apologies for getting the wrong board.

Could an admin delete this thread? I have re-created it in the correct place.