Self employed, no receipts

sjbrun

If you sell on eBay or amazon or use PayPal they will report you to HMRC when your sales reach a certain level. If you aren’t registered as a business they can close your accounts and seize the cash for a time period. It has happened, rare but it can. It’s always best to do things properly.

Pennywise

You need to make a list of everything you "give" to the business on the day you started it, and apply your best "guess" at the price you paid (or open market value if lower). HMRC will only be interested if the figures are huge or look wrong. Obviously, if you do have "proof" such as an invoice, bank statement entry or you can remember, then use the correct figure rather than your best guess.

ruby2sday

sjbrun wrote: »

If you sell on eBay or amazon or use PayPal they will report you to HMRC when your sales reach a certain level. If you aren’t registered as a business they can close your accounts and seize the cash for a time period. It has happened, rare but it can. It’s always best to do things properly.

I use PayPal and they have recently told me to give them more information because I've made over a certain amount, but I'm using a business account and I have until October to register as self employed, pretty sure i'm not doing anything wrong

ruby2sday

Pennywise wrote: »

You need to make a list of everything you "give" to the business on the day you started it, and apply your best "guess" at the price you paid (or open market value if lower). HMRC will only be interested if the figures are huge or look wrong. Obviously, if you do have "proof" such as an invoice, bank statement entry or you can remember, then use the correct figure rather than your best guess.

So basically as long as I do my best to record everything as accurately as possible and there's nothing out of the ordinary then I don't need to worry about not having a receipt for every single thing.

ThemeOne

I wouldn't worry about it, just put them through as expenses - as has been said you don't need to supply receipts with your return.

The issue of whether you bought them before starting the business isn't relevant since you don't have receipts anyway i.e. it can't be proved when you did, or didn't buy them.

Energize

sjbrun wrote: »

If you sell on eBay or amazon or use PayPal they will report you to HMRC when your sales reach a certain level. If you aren’t registered as a business they can close your accounts and seize the cash for a time period. It has happened, rare but it can. It’s always best to do things properly.

Yeah this is why you should never ever leave money in your PayPal account they cannot be trusted or relied upon.