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

ballisticbrian

A lot of eBay sellers aren't VAT registered because they don't make the turnover that will force them to be. With the margins on eBay being so tight, things like which courier you use or whether you are VAT registered or not could be all there is in the pence between you and your competitors. I see comments about tax as more to do with income tax as a sole trader or corporation tax. This is more so, if you choose low volume high mark up item (because there will be little VAT to claim back, and max to charge), and that is what you need really for a niche. And niche is where experts are saying is the only place to survive as an eBay seller now-a days.

harryfrombarry_2

soolin wrote: »

and yes, I would dob someone in if I knew they were defrauding HMRC.

Am I right in thinking you own a number of cats?

Widelats

In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with making money from your hobby, anyone who thinks otherwise is simply not on my level and need not lecture me on laws and taxes etc etc etc.

alykatz

Widelats wrote: »

In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with making money from your hobby, anyone who thinks otherwise is simply not on my level and need not lecture me on laws and taxes etc etc etc.

Try using that argument with HMRC if/when they catch up you and see where that gets you.

soolin

Widelats wrote: »

In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with making money from your hobby, anyone who thinks otherwise is simply not on my level and need not lecture me on laws and taxes etc etc etc.

No one will lecture you, I'm not sure you would actually be able to understand even if we tried.

On a serious note I do think it would be appropriate to consider doing some sort of finance or basic understanding of economics etc at school as a compulsory subject. Some of the misunderstandings about fairly straightforward finance and planning is quite worrying. I did a lot of volunteer work a few years back, a little still on occasions, and yes I meet people who have deliberately set out to defraud DWP or HMRC, but I also meet a lot of people who listen to 'mates' and who believe such urban myths as ' it can only be a business if you sell new things' and 'it isn't a business if you are a stay at home mum ' or 'if you work a PAYE job then you are allowed to earn as much as you want on the side from a business without needing to pay tax'.

It might seem amusing to some people, but the real harm and distress it can cause when a person is caught by DWP or HMRC is real. I am aware of some extremely unpleasant repercussions of failing to properly declare income, it isn't funny at all.

RFW

Brooker_Dave wrote: »

All they have to do is visit the warehouses in the UK and audit what's there, it's value when retailed and what value it's been declared for at point of entry.

If it's been under declared at point of import, then sieze the goods, if they've skipped the vat, sieze the goods, problem solved.

There's only a handful of very large warehouses involved.



Sieze the goods sat in UK warehouses.

We seem to be talking about two different things, I meant Chinese goods sent in from China, not the stuff in storage in the UK.
They do seize goods where tax/duty is not paid or under declared. It's still all pretty tricky to prove or sort out. There's also the fact that when they do seize goods they will rarely raise more from the sale than they spent on investigating. It's even more rare that they get the culprits to start paying tax.

One Chinese company I've dealt with seems to have at least 20 companies all doing the same thing. I never worked out exactly why they do it but it must be, at least partly to spread out tax.

Spidernick

Widelats wrote: »

In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with making money from your hobby, anyone who thinks otherwise is simply not on my level and need not lecture me on laws and taxes etc etc etc.

I can well imagine Wayne Rooney's 'hobby' is playing football, given how much he enjoys it, so no doubt he shouldn't pay any tax on the money he makes from this?!!!

I'm not trying to 'lecture' you, but would just like you to step back for a minute and think about what you've been advocating, to see if you can see how silly it sounds.

martindow

ballisticbrian wrote: »

A lot of eBay sellers aren't VAT registered because they don't make the turnover that will force them to be. With the margins on eBay being so tight, things like which courier you use or whether you are VAT registered or not could be all there is in the pence between you and your competitors.

VAT liability is based on turnover rather than profit. If there are only a few pence profit or not is irrelevant. If your annual turnover is over £80k you should be VAT registered.

A lot of people seem to know of ebay sellers who are clearly in excess of this and don't appear to be registered.

Widelats

Spidernick wrote: »

I can well imagine Wayne Rooney's 'hobby' is playing football, given how much he enjoys it, so no doubt he shouldn't pay any tax on the money he makes from this?!!!

I'm not trying to 'lecture' you, but would just like you to step back for a minute and think about what you've been advocating, to see if you can see how silly it sounds.

Since when are pro footballers selling themselves on eBay?
If Rooney made small football goal posts out of sustainable wood because he really enjoyed it, and wanted to share that joy by selling them and painting them as custom gifts, i do not think he should be taxed on it.

If some woman from Denmark wants to go along the shoreline collecting Viking pebbles, then engraves them with Viking runes herself, and sells them, she should not pay tax on that.

If Mr. Goldhorn wants to frack the Earth, kill thousands of wildlife in the process, suck the sea beds dry, and sell all that back to you, but avoids multiple billions of pounds in tax money, i think that is where the brainwashed can't see the wood for the trees.

RFW

Widelats wrote: »

Since when are pro footballers selling themselves on eBay?
If Rooney made small football goal posts out of sustainable wood because he really enjoyed it, and wanted to share that joy by selling them and painting them as custom gifts, i do not think he should be taxed on it.

If some woman from Denmark wants to go along the shoreline collecting Viking pebbles, then engraves them with Viking runes herself, and sells them, she should not pay tax on that.

They likely wouldn't be paying tax on it, they just have to declare that they are a business. At that level it's a relatively straightforward system, buy or make to sell then you are a business. It doesn't necessarily mean you'll be paying tax.