Self-employment tax help

distant_smile

Hi all,

I have been an avid Ebay seller of unwanted junk for a while and have never been subjected to tax. However I have now found a small niche in the toy market and I want to create a website through which I can sell the toys.

The toys will be bought for the purpose of making profit so I will have to register self-employed and declare tax (as my full time job already takes me over my personal allowance). The thing I am confused on is that I have a lot of parts,etc for these toys which I will be also selling that I have accumulated over the years. Some are ex-birthday presents, or boot sale finds, etc, and I don't have any receipts for them as they were initially bought for my own collection and not to sell on.

Any new product I buy and sell will be recorded and receipts/expenses recorded, but how would I manage the older items as I will have no proof of purchases for them?

Any help with this issue would be appreciated as I would like to say as transparent as possible

Regards,
S.B

Flyonthewall

The easiest thing to do would be to make sure you don't sell your private used items on your site or ebay account that you're selling the new items on.

As you're selling new and the others are used then I doubt anyone is going to question it, especially if selling on different accounts/different places. If they do, you just explain as you have here.

So long as you do everything legally you shouldn't have any problems.

distant_smile

Splitting the items would be difficult as some compliment the newer items (for example spare parts, add-ons, etc). I would have no problem declaring the older items if needed I just don't have any paperwork to go with them.

My idea was to sell the older/used items and only declare the new stuff that has specifically been bought for selling, I am just a little wary of how tough the Inland Revenue are on this kind of thing, having never been self-employed I was wondering how strict the rules are as many appear to be a grey area.

Regards,
S.B

Flyonthewall

If people want the spare parts/add ons and you have them on ebay they'll most likely find them. You could also send a friendly message to a (potential) buyer informing them of the ebay listing of the item from your private collection if they buy a certain item or contact you asking if you have a specific item in stock.

Some sellers do sell private items on their ebay business accounts though and have no problems. I'd say as long as you have all paperwork for the new stock you are buying to resell you should be fine.

There is an ebay section on these forums though and you may do better asking there as business sellers will be able to tell you what they do with regards to private and business items.