Ebay and Tax

anthonyt

Anyone know about what will happen about my tax. I recently started selling unlock codes and have obtained around £800 over 2 months of trading on ebay. This is in my paypal account also.
So question is what do I do about tax and revenue. I dont want to be stung or that but I am unsure what I should do or go about it. Do I need to declare myself as self employed, even though it is just for extra money as im a student.

Any help would be excellent. I am unsure if this question has already been answered in a previous post somewere.

RFW

Self employed status depends on your main source of income. You need to declare any earnings for tax purposes though. Depending on your age you can probably get some (free) advice from Prince's Business Trust or Business Link. Also the Inland Revenue themselves can be very helpful.

greenstreetprince

get that money OUT of your paypal account QUICK

anthonyt

greenstreetprince wrote: »

get that money OUT of your paypal account QUICK

Can I ask why that should be.

Also I am 20 and uni student, just got access to server so looking at doing it just for little extra income until september again. Is there any way I should go about becoming legit

RFW

greenstreetprince wrote: »

get that money OUT of your paypal account QUICK

If he doesn't want it, he can send it to me and I'll worry about the tax.;)

RFW

anthonyt wrote: »

Can I ask why that should be.

Also I am 20 and uni student, just got access to server so looking at doing it just for little extra income until september again. Is there any way I should go about becoming legit

There's no point in leaving it in Paypal account, you have limited access to it, its not earnong interest, you can only spend it on sites that accept Paypal, withdraw it to a bank account and you can do what you want with it.

You need to ask HMRC for advice on what you should do, or Citizens Advice.

There's other things they'd need to know which you shouldn't be posting on a public forum!

Flexible_Friend

Even as a student you have a Personal Tax Allowance so you can earn up to a certain amount before paying any tax.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3143953.stm

JohalaReewi

anthonyt wrote: »

Anyone know about what will happen about my tax. I recently started selling unlock codes and have obtained around £800 over 2 months of trading on ebay.

This is classed as trading and so you are liable for income tax on your profit.

This is in my paypal account also.

As mentioned, this is not smart. Paypal can freeze your account for almost any reason and you can then say goodbye to the money. You should move it out of Paypal into your bank account as soon as possible. Don't leave money lying around in Paypal.

So question is what do I do about tax and revenue. I dont want to be stung or that but I am unsure what I should do or go about it. Do I need to declare myself as self employed, even though it is just for extra money as im a student.

Unfortunately, just because you are a student, doesn't exclude you income tax if you decide to make a bit of money on the side. Technically, you would seem to be self employed. It is worth checking the HMRC website for info. Remember that if you register as self employed, you can take into account any costs you incurred to make the money on ebay (like ebay fees, paypal fees, use of computer, heat, light, etc.).

Have a read here for starters http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/selfemployed and see if you can get some business advice about record keeping.

beans

anthonyt wrote: »

Anyone know about what will happen about my tax. I recently started selling unlock codes and have obtained around £800 over 2 months of trading on ebay. This is in my paypal account also.
So question is what do I do about tax and revenue. I dont want to be stung or that but I am unsure what I should do or go about it. Do I need to declare myself as self employed, even though it is just for extra money as im a student.

Any help would be excellent. I am unsure if this question has already been answered in a previous post somewere.

I recommend that you contact HMR&C, because they most likely already know about you. Come clean and pay your dues. Because if you don't, when they come after you it might be unpleasant!

martindow

Flexible_Friend wrote: »

Even as a student you have a Personal Tax Allowance so you can earn up to a certain amount before paying any tax.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3143953.stm

But even if you are below the tax threshold you should still declare any earnings. And NI contributions need to be paid. It is probably very unlikely that you will be caught up with if you do not declare your income, but by all accounts the tax people can be really unpleasant if they do get their teeth into you. If any tax is liable it would only be on your profit not your turnover so your 800 pounds will be much less when you have taken off all of your expenses. It is best to be honest.