HMRC targets Etsy, eBay, Amazon, Facebook & Gumtree sellers

RFW

I think most people would be happier if this thread title had the word "sellers" missing from it.

lovinituk

About time! I'm aware of at least one VAT dodging seller. Hope they're on the list.

mrcol1000

I can see both sides of this. If you are making a few quid on the side then where really is the harm. However if you are making serious money then you should be paying tax. However I can well imagine there are a fair few people who started out just making a few pounds pocket money and it grew into something larger. That is what happened to me and now I get to pay two lots of tax, once for Ebay and once for my other income. So I have little sympathy for people who are doing this as a regular business and not paying their dues.

Also, I used to work indirectly with Council Tax in another life. It is amazing how many people know people who are cheating Council Tax, get angry about this as they are paying tax but refuse to dob in the person they know. I can well imagine there are a lot of people in the same situation over income tax and VAT.

RFW

mrcol1000 wrote: »

Also, I used to work indirectly with Council Tax in another life. It is amazing how many people know people who are cheating Council Tax, get angry about this as they are paying tax but refuse to dob in the person they know. I can well imagine there are a lot of people in the same situation over income tax and VAT.

I think informing is about the worst way of getting anywhere. You just end up with lots of people telling tales. I'd bet at least half would be made up.

When I was in another business I had a neighbouring business who took against us. I never really knew why as it was an unrelated business. He kept reporting us for various things, on one occasion to health and safety who paid him a visit first, he ended up with a fine and we were ok. In my experience there are always plenty of people happy to report someone, not necessarily for the right reasons.

I could probably trawl Ebay and fish out a few people who look like they aren't paying tax but I couldn't be certain.

My advice for HMRC would be to search "we are not responsible for items lost in the mail" and see who that shakes out;)

Pierre_De_Grenoble

^^^^


awesome...


2,396,070 results for we are not responsible for items lost

Queenriderbrekke

Widelats wrote: »

Oh my..... you know something, everyone should stop paying any tax at all, for the items sold the tax was already paid on that item when bought new it should not be paid a second, third, fourth time etc etc, that would be like taxing charity shops.

Only 9 million in tax, when the real tax avoiders are the big businesses avoiding billions each.

If nobody pays tax, then theres nothing they can do about it, they can not lock eveyone up - that would cost a fortune in tax money.

If you apply this then Antique shops, Auction Houses, Vintage Clothes shops would be would not be VAT/taxed.


The difference comes when you are selling 1 antique sideboard inherited against somebody buying and selling items for a profit. Or indeed making craft items to sell.

ballisticbrian

Do you think the uk government is sophisticated enough to sus out the Chinese sellers who are registered in China and filling UK warehouses with goods from China and dispatching them from England, but just passing themselves off as freight forwarding companies.

soolin

I am surprised that so many people don't really see an issue with a bit of black market trading 'cash in hand', yet other forums on here are full of people arguing for increases in benefits. Yes perhaps the actual income tax per head of a small trader who is defrauding HMRC is small , but add them all together and it must amount to millions. Perhaps that money would make the difference to people who absolutely need state assistance.

It just seems we all want something for nothing - and yes, I would dob someone in if I knew they were defrauding HMRC.

lovinituk

A lot of people who are against paying tax on their 'small business' income are often the same people who are demanding more benefits while at the same time asking how they can receive their large inheritance without it affecting their benefits! The benefits board on here is full of them.

Some people are just happy to take and are extremely upset when asked to give something back.

RFW

soolin wrote: »

I am surprised that so many people don't really see an issue with a bit of black market trading 'cash in hand', yet other forums on here are full of people arguing for increases in benefits. Yes perhaps the actual income tax per head of a small trader who is defrauding HMRC is small , but add them all together and it must amount to millions. Perhaps that money would make the difference to people who absolutely need state assistance.

It just seems we all want something for nothing - and yes, I would dob someone in if I knew they were defrauding HMRC.

I don't disagree. The problem is that HMRC have few resources, certainly way less staff than 25 years ago when you couldn't move for Tax or VAT inspectors.
If they start investigating some of the bigger companies perhaps they'd end up with enough funds to start investigating the little guys too. If they spend £5,000 investigating Joe Soap and discover he owes £2,000 in tax then we're in a worse position.
I really do think though that the whole tax system is way behind the times. Global selling is here to stay, Chinese sellers won't be going anywhere, yet the tax system can't control them.