claiming benefits and selling on ebay

curious72

I am on income support and disability living allowance permanently and im thinking about making and selling on ebay.

i have a few questions and would very much appreciate any help/info

1. do i need to tell the DWP? i don't know how much i will sell from week to week i.e i may only earn £10 one week and then £100 the next, so have no idea of income/earnings on a week to week basis or even monthly.

2. will i lose my benefits?

3. do i have to tell the tax people? to my understanding you can earn £8,000 odd before being taxed.

thanks

[have also posted this in other sections as not sure where to post it]

brettcta

yes, you'll legally need to declare this as you'll presumably be making a profit and therefore making an income.

Dogger69

You do need to declare this - if you look up the rules on Permitted Work this will explain how much you can earn/ work whilst still qualifying for IS.

Anything over £20 per week will be deducted from your IS entitlement.

You will need to register with HMRC as self employed and complete a self assessment at year end.

realshannon

it doesn't seem to fit very well with claiming benefits, of any description, and working albeit I admire the fact you are trying to improve and be active but I agree with Dogger69

curious72

i have just read the 'rules on permitted work' and am slightly confused.

it states;

"for earnings of up to and including £20.00 a week for an unlimited period, or
for less than 16 hours a week, on average, with earnings up to and including £99.50 a week for a 52 week period"

im not sure which i fall under. i will only be working from home for about 2hrs a week and the profit on each item will only be about £2/3.

mikey_bach

You are on IB and IS I take it.
If you were just on IB then then you would be ok.
You could earn up to £99.50 and it not effect your IB as per the permitted work rules.
But because you are on IS as well then you can earn £20 without it effecting your benefit then anything else will be taken in pound for pound.
You need to ring IB/IS and tell them you are going to be seling items on Ebay, IB will make a decision if this can be accepted as permitted work, and IS will class this as self employment and will send you a B16 and they will need to see full details and Ebay accounts. If you spend more then sixteen hours weeks doing your selling on ebay IS may deem it full time work and your claim could close, so you need to do it with in sixteen hours, IB have to accept it of course as permitted work first

curious72

so if im only working for about 2hrs alltol over a week and earn £20 i don't need to tell them as this is within the allowance before having to declare it to them?

mikey_bach

curious72 wrote: »

so if im only working for about 2hrs alltol over a week and earn £20 i don't need to tell them as this is within the allowance before having to declare it to them?

No you always have to declare any work even voluntary but if you kept it under the £20 per week disregard there would be no change to your benefit.
But hey you may make loads. Good luck op it will keep you busy and active always a good thing

[Deleted User]

OP no one gets DLA permanently,after 2015 you will be asked at some point to apply for its replacement PIP

rogerblack

mikey_bach wrote: »

You are on IB and IS I take it.
If you were just on IB then then you would be ok.
You could earn up to £99.50 and it not effect your IB as per the permitted work rules.
But because you are on IS as well then you can earn £20 without it effecting your benefit then anything else will be taken in pound for pound.

As I understand it, this is incorrect.
Permitted work never affects the amount of benefit paid to a single claimant.
The complexity is because you can only do 'permitted work higher level' for one year, but you can do 'permitted work lower level' forever, earning £20/week or less.

You earn £19 in week 1-10, and then £90 in week 11.

This means that the year 'timer' has started from week 11, and you cannot do permitted work higher level from week 63 to 115. (The year after permitted work higher level started)

This may be significantly complicated, because it may be appropriate to average your earnings.

help4help2013

there was a woman on the tv show saint and scrounger who was selling on ebay she got done for fraud because she making a lot of money from it as they classed it as a second income she never declared it she was getting income support housing council tax benefit

always best to inform them of what you going to do that way you cant get into trouble