Groceries to Kenya

Mr_Jones

My wife has started buying groceries from UK discount stores and UK cash and carries.  She packs them all up at home and ships them to Kenya on a door-door basis including destination duties and taxes.  She sells them to a mix of end users and local shops, a friend collects the money and sends it back to the UK via the banking system.  She may make approx £200-£250 a month on this which is not considerable but still is worth having as she has a low salary.   There is room for growth if that is what she decides to do.  My question is how does she pay tax in the UK on this?  Does she just register her business as self employed and declare the profits to the UK tax man?  Or is that not relevant because she is selling abroad?   Instead should she be paying tax in Kenya as that is where the goods are being sold ?

soolin

Mr_Jones said:

My wife has started buying groceries from UK discount stores and UK cash and carries.  She packs them all up at home and ships them to Kenya on a door-door basis including destination duties and taxes.  She sells them to a mix of end users and local shops, a friend collects the money and sends it back to the UK via the banking system.  She may make approx £200-£250 a month on this which is not considerable but still is worth having as she has a low salary.   There is room for growth if that is what she decides to do.  My question is how does she pay tax in the UK on this?  Does she just register her business as self employed and declare the profits to the UK tax man?  Or is that not relevant because she is selling abroad?   Instead should she be paying tax in Kenya as that is where the goods are being sold ?

She registers as self employed with HMRC and then each tax year after the tax year in which she started trading she submits a self assessment form. That assumes she is registered and domiciled in the UK. If she has any personal allowances left after her other income then that will be set against the profit, and there will be National Insurance to pay.