Extra income from a hobby

wright39

Hi there,

Just wondered if anyone can shed some light on this subject. There seems to be plenty of people selling 'hobby like' items on Ebay from home. Just wondered as I would like to do the same but wonder how I will get on with my local council who would like a cut (by way of business rates???). Does anyone here have any ideas of what to do. Is there anyone on this site who is doing the same and knows the score?? or does anyone have details of any organisation that may have real answers??

Kind Regards,

Dan

asajj

There is an Ebay forum - better to ask there perhaps.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=40

Not sure local council question but you can sell your items as a private seller. Why they would want a cut?

soolin

asajj wrote: »

There is an Ebay forum - better to ask there perhaps.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=40

Not sure local council question but you can sell your items as a private seller. Why they would want a cut?

If you make things to sell then you are not a private seller and would need an ebay business account and be registered with HMRC. It is unlikely that the council will be bothered though for a small hobby business.

PlutoinCapricorn

Business rates and informing the council only apply if there is a major change of use from residential to commercial in the property. For example, if you convert the downstairs into a dental clinic or make one room a stock room only. Neighbours may complain to the council if you have deliveries all the time or your customers take all the parking spaces.

If you just work at a table on a hobby level there will not be any problems.

wright39

I'm looking at selling signs & stuff. I would be selling around £300 - 500 worth a month from a small corner in my garage. I still class that at hobby level since I would only make £100 - 200 or so after paying my taxes etc.

lincroft1710

What sort of signs? What sort of "stuff"?

the_matrix

Go for it and see how it goes. Don't worry about council they have bigger fish to fry.

cazmanian_minx

wright39 wrote: »

I'm looking at selling signs & stuff. I would be selling around £300 - 500 worth a month from a small corner in my garage. I still class that at hobby level since I would only make £100 - 200 or so after paying my taxes etc.

If your garage is still principally being used as a garage, you shouldn't have a problem. I had a visit from the council tax assessor when we first moved to this house, the previous owner had built a one-bedroom annexe so it needed reassessing for council tax and I had my entire eBay shop stock spread out all over it. He was fine about the downstairs, which also had a sofa and a telly in it, when it came to the upstairs bedroom which was literally just a desk for packing stuff on and piles of boxes, he asked me, with a wink, if I was intending to buy a single bed and put it up here for having family and friends to stay? I replied that I was indeed intending to do that and he said that was fine then, he wouldn't need to assess me for business rates.

Admittedly, I'm in Scotland and things might be slightly different, but if they're not worried about my level of business use, they certainly won't worry about yours