Kinda messed up big time here....

Kayalana99

Back in 2010 I started selling a few items on Ebay, I was a business as I was buying to sell for profit but I brought 4,000 of these items in one go and I was only selling about 20 a month for £1.00 each. (Mostly less then that)

So basicly I was gross income of £20.00, I never claimed tax and I guess I told myself (since I orignally spent £700 on the 4,000 items and wasn't selling alot) that untill I had earnt over the £700 mark I didnt need to worry about it.

I then decided to go into something else(prbs about sept last year till apr time), I spent £1000ish on stock and decided to do my book keeping properly but I then realised I was in over my head and ended up with loads of stock so still have over half the stock left but I had been selling it cheaply so no way I made the orignal 1k back and I ended up ..again not doing my book keeping. Also contining to sell the above bringing in £20ish.

So. Now I've gone back to my first item that was selling £20 a month and made something simlar and boom.

Now Im getting in a gross income of £200 a month and probally making about 1/3 that profit but I never expected these results..and I have no book keeping what so ever. This has been going on since June this year.

I don't no how to even go about this, Im worried if I ring HMRC they will ask me for aload of information I don't have! My Grandad says I'm being silly and that because its such a small amount I can just send in accounts and they will take my word for it . (I.e if I dont have a reciept for something they won't start asking to much)

I thought maybe I could just write myself a reciept (honestly) from June and ignore what happened prevouisly? Espically since I didn't make profit overall? Or will they ask for bank statements at some point and Ill get in more trouble for not taking this into calucation?

To make matters worse I am now on maternity leave and I am not even sure if I am allowed to be earning money outside my normal income!!!

techspec

You have 3 months to delcare a business - so either way your beyond that.

Had you kept records and filled in your tax returns - its unlikely that for them amounts HMRC would have needed to see receipts etc. Many people just fill it in and pay tax due.

But if you declare it now, and say you've been doing it a while - they might take a closer look at you.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/about/new-penalties/

Doesn't sound like you have done much so far - so it might just be worth stopping - or starting a business properly (doesn't sound like its worth the hassle if book-keeping is not your thing).

jimmo

Listen to your granddad, he’s talking a lot of sense.

I would suggest the first thing you should do is calculate your gross profit or loss for each venture.

Gross profit is the amount of your takings less the cost of purchase of the items sold.



In your first venture you spent £700 on 4000 items so each item cost 17.5p.

How many items have you sold?

How much did you sell them for?

Take away the17.5p cost per item from your figure of sales and you have your gross profit or loss.

Same principle for your “something else”

The next step is to deduct your other business expenses from the gross profit in order to establish your net profit.

Don’t panic about contacting HMRC just yet. You seem to have 3 choices.

1) throw yourself to the mercy of HMRC.

2) pay an accountant to sort it all out.

3) take guidance from a forum.

Each have their advantages and drawbacks.

bartnwood

jimmo wrote: »

Don’t panic about contacting HMRC just yet. You seem to have 3 choices.

1) throw yourself to the mercy of HMRC.

2) pay an accountant to sort it all out.

3) take guidance from a forum.

Each have their advantages and drawbacks.

Hello Kayalana99,

I would recommend taking option 2

sleepless_saver

Phone HMRC on the newly self employed helpline 0845 915 4515 and get properly registered once you've got your act together. It will make life simpler in the long run. http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/startingup/index.htm

As to whether you're allowed to be self employed, that's just between you and your employer. Check contract terms and conditions or ask them. Can't imagine it would be a problem for most employers unless it affects your work or somehow brings them into disrepute.

getmore4less

Kayalana99 wrote: »

To make matters worse I am now on maternity leave and I am not even sure if I am allowed to be earning money outside my normal income!!!

Check the rules on SMP/MA carefully.

I think you might be OK acording to this link but look for further references.

http://maternityaction.org.uk/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/morethanonejob.pdf