Tax Return time looming....

Rhymsta

Just trying to get my head round filling in my tax return in relation to my eBay activities.

Read lots of guides etc and the HMRC one says just enter in the box labelled, "Other Income" the amount earnt less all associated costs.

Can't seem to find a definitive answer on how to treat stock?

I have bought LOTS of job lots and sold items from all of them and they have now been merged into their component parts.

lindseykim13

Thought this had to be in by now?

As for filling it in, i normally bung all stock in together-they only want a total of all money in and all money out. Makes no difference where really.

davec1960

Your current stock and its value isn't of interest to the taxman.

Get the total of all your sales for the relevent period. Don't forget to deduct any refunds you have given.
Work out your total expenditure in the same period?
Subtract the expenditure from the sales and you have your income figure.

Your expenditure includes stock purchases, ebay and paypal fees, postage and packing materials. There may be other legitimate expenses you can claim also.

F&L

My accountant does my tax return but with regards to the stock figure, mine always asks for this. The higher the value of the closing stock figure, the more tax you have to pay. Depending on how much trade you do, you might want to look at using an accountant.

techspec

Tax return time looming???? Your a couple of weeks late for online - and a few months late for postal returns - unless you received a different deadline via letter from HMRC.

Or are you just way ahead for the next returns?

antrobus

Rhymsta wrote: »

Just trying to get my head round filling in my tax return in relation to my eBay activities....

The deadline for 2011-12 was 31 January 2013 which has been and gone.

Rhymsta wrote: »

...
Can't seem to find a definitive answer on how to treat stock?

I have bought LOTS of job lots and sold items from all of them and they have now been merged into their component parts.

I believe that the question you're asking is this;

- I've bought a lot of job lots of goods for resale
- I've sold a lot of the individual items from those job lots
- I've mixed up all the individual items that were left over

therefore I have no way of working out exactly how much I paid for the bits I have left over.

The answer is simple; just make a guess. Really. If necessary have a good think along the lines of, 'on average I sell stuff for twice what I paid for, I could get £200 for that lot, so my stock is worth £100'.

soolin

Maybe OP is more organised than the rest of us and is talking about the 2012/2013 tax return? Less than 2 months to go until the end f this tax year and maybe some people are more diligent and want to start making sure their books are well organised to make it easier after April

Rhymsta

soolin wrote: »

Maybe OP is more organised than the rest of us and is talking about the 2012/2013 tax return? Less than 2 months to go until the end f this tax year and maybe some people are more diligent and want to start making sure their books are well organised to make it easier after April

Yes, exactly, this tax year finishes in April and at that point or soon after you need to know how you stand. How can you do a stock take six months after the end of the tax year?

Rhymsta

antrobus wrote: »

I believe that the question you're asking is this;

- I've bought a lot of job lots of goods for resale
- I've sold a lot of the individual items from those job lots
- I've mixed up all the individual items that were left over

therefore I have no way of working out exactly how much I paid for the bits I have left over.

The answer is simple; just make a guess. Really. If necessary have a good think along the lines of, 'on average I sell stuff for twice what I paid for, I could get £200 for that lot, so my stock is worth £100'.

So the tax man IS interested in my stock ....
I will also make full use of 'lower valuation' rule ie: If you buy a hundred widgets at £5 each and Widget Mark 2 comes out then the value of your stock would fall accordingly.
There is also lots of stuff in job lots that goes straight to the charity shop / recycling / rubbish bin!

lindseykim13

I'm not sure i'm following this and i've been running my own ebay business for sometime now. If i have spent x amount on stock from april to april i don't count it again when i look at what stock i have left.

What did you spend this year in total on stock, enter that amount. Plus usual ebay fees/paypal fees.

How much money have you made-enter that amount.

The stock you have in your garage or whatever has already been acounted for in the first calculation.

If i buy some stock, i come home and enter it into my spreadsheet, the stock doesn't have to have sold within this year. I'll just sell it next year.
Think you may be over complicating it.

macfly

And I think you may be doing it wrongly. Opening stock plus purchases minus closing stock is your cost of goods. Then deduct any other expenses, fees postage (and a latte on the way to the PO) etc. from your sales.