Ebay seller , need to disclose profit

nat198

Hi there,
I was ebay seller from 2016 to 2021 and need to disclose my profit to hmrc.
My estimated profit for

2016/2017 was £770
2017/2018 was £2,538
2018/2019 was £3,364
2019/2020 was £17,325
2020/2021 was £553

no more trading from april 2021
no turn over of 85K or above at any of those years
worked as full time while trading

HMRC has given me deadline of 10 august for payment and make a disclosure. I don't know what to do ?

Any help would be appreciated.

comeandgo

I think you need to get actual profit figures worked out, not estimated.  Do you have an accountant to help you?  

soolin

As above you will need proper figures, although simple accounts would suffice. 

Basically list all the income from all sources within the tax year, that includes the postage element . That’s your total income so keep that figure.

Then make a note of every single expense, outgoing postage, money spent on stock, wrapping materials, fees for eBay/PayPal etc. That will give you your total expenses. Take your expenses away from your income to get your taxable income, it’s that figure that will be subject to tax and NI where appropriate. present those 3 lines of figures to HMRC, income, less expenses equalling profit. 

I would also expect HMRC to do some sort of rudimentary check as this has not previously been provided, so perhaps  ask for certain receipts. HMRC may also have some sort of rudimentary declaration from EBay which they will expect to match against your total income figure. 

Assuming your PAYE employment takes all of your personal allowances your net income will be fully taxed at your highest rate. Depending on whether any of this has previously been declared you may also face penalty and interest charges.

As above, an accountant may be worth approaching due to the time frames depending g on what paperwork you have to hand. 

tightauldgit

nat198 said:

Hi there,
I was ebay seller from 2016 to 2021 and need to disclose my profit to hmrc.
My estimated profit for

2016/2017 was £770
2017/2018 was £2,538
2018/2019 was £3,364
2019/2020 was £17,325
2020/2021 was £553

no more trading from april 2021
no turn over of 85K or above at any of those years
worked as full time while trading

HMRC has given me deadline of 10 august for payment and make a disclosure. I don't know what to do ?

Any help would be appreciated.

When you say you don't know what to do what specifically are you struggling with? 

HMRC will want to know your total income from eBay including postage and then total expenses including eBay fees, postage costs, packing materials, etc. You might even be able to bang in using your home as an office. 

 Presumably you then submit a self assessment for the year and you will know what's due then you pay it. 

martindow

Did you not make tax returns for any of these years?  If not I think you are likely to receive fines for this and in that position I would get an accountant to deal with it.  They will know the best way to present your figures, but you will still need to gather up the details as suggested above.

tightauldgit

martindow said:

Did you not make tax returns for any of these years?  If not I think you are likely to receive fines for this and in that position I would get an accountant to deal with it.  They will know the best way to present your figures, but you will still need to gather up the details as suggested above.

Really no need for an accountant to do a basic self-assessment return - the bigger question is probably whether they are going to have good records and receipts etc going back 5 or 6 years if HMRC decide to dig into things

RFW

nat198 said:

Hi there,
I was ebay seller from 2016 to 2021 and need to disclose my profit to hmrc.
My estimated profit for

2016/2017 was £770
2017/2018 was £2,538
2018/2019 was £3,364
2019/2020 was £17,325
2020/2021 was £553

no more trading from april 2021
no turn over of 85K or above at any of those years
worked as full time while trading

HMRC has given me deadline of 10 august for payment and make a disclosure. I don't know what to do ?

Any help would be appreciated.

£85k turnover relates to registering for VAT. It's nothing to do with tax, not sure if you know that so just pointing it out.

If you're struggling I'd suggest getting in touch with an accountant. They'll deal with HMRC on your behalf and get your deadline extended where necessary.
They'll also help with knowing any other expenses you can claim back. You'd probably be looking at £2-300 accountancy fees.

If you don't want/can't afford an accountant my next suggestion would be to call HMRC yourself and ask for their help. If you have bank statements to back up that you weren't making very much then you may be able to email those and hold them off for a while.

It's also not been asked if you were a business, ie buying or making things to resell. I know some on here have sold their personal belongings and considered what they sold to be "profit", so worth clarifying.

martindow

tightauldgit said:

martindow said:

Did you not make tax returns for any of these years?  If not I think you are likely to receive fines for this and in that position I would get an accountant to deal with it.  They will know the best way to present your figures, but you will still need to gather up the details as suggested above.

Really no need for an accountant to do a basic self-assessment return - the bigger question is probably whether they are going to have good records and receipts etc going back 5 or 6 years if HMRC decide to dig into things

I agree that one can do a SA return without needing an accountant.  But I read the OP as there having been several years of trading without any returns being made.  If this is the case, there is the possibility of multiple fines and I think that an accountant's know how could be valuable in straightening things out as smoothly as possible.

FFHillbilly

RFW said:

nat198 said:

Hi there,
I was ebay seller from 2016 to 2021 and need to disclose my profit to hmrc.
My estimated profit for

2016/2017 was £770
2017/2018 was £2,538
2018/2019 was £3,364
2019/2020 was £17,325
2020/2021 was £553

no more trading from april 2021
no turn over of 85K or above at any of those years
worked as full time while trading

HMRC has given me deadline of 10 august for payment and make a disclosure. I don't know what to do ?

Any help would be appreciated.

£85k turnover relates to registering for VAT. It's nothing to do with tax, not sure if you know that so just pointing it out.

If you're struggling I'd suggest getting in touch with an accountant. They'll deal with HMRC on your behalf and get your deadline extended where necessary.
They'll also help with knowing any other expenses you can claim back. You'd probably be looking at £2-300 accountancy fees.

If you don't want/can't afford an accountant my next suggestion would be to call HMRC yourself and ask for their help. If you have bank statements to back up that you weren't making very much then you may be able to email those and hold them off for a while.

It's also not been asked if you were a business, ie buying or making things to resell. I know some on here have sold their personal belongings and considered what they sold to be "profit", so worth clarifying.

from my experience with accountants and claims with HMRC, they will just do whatever is necessary (or even some stuff that isn't necessary) and add it to your bill, which will be a lot more than £300
OP I think if you really don't now what to do, get all of the figures and receipts you can, add it all up, do all of the counting and adding yourself and present this info to an accountant (on an Excel spreadsheet so its as easy as possible for them to understand)and ask for a quote to submit the data on your behalf. the more you can do, the less they need to do, and the less you should pay
It's all about the time it takes them.  I know tradesmen who use the same accountancy firm as me but they pay substantially more than me as they just hand the accountant a carrier bag full of receipts and probably less than half of the info they need to complete the years return so the poor accountant has to spend ages figuring it out, getting the missing info, putting it all into a spreadsheet etc. Also thats despite me having 2 business that they manage, I keep track of everything on excel spreadsheets and hand in all of the required paperwork at the end of the year so all they really need to do is check it, stands to reason they don't charge me as much

Spoonie_Turtle

RFW said:

nat198 said:

Hi there,
I was ebay seller from 2016 to 2021 and need to disclose my profit to hmrc.
My estimated profit for

2016/2017 was £770
2017/2018 was £2,538
2018/2019 was £3,364
2019/2020 was £17,325
2020/2021 was £553

no more trading from april 2021
no turn over of 85K or above at any of those years
worked as full time while trading

HMRC has given me deadline of 10 august for payment and make a disclosure. I don't know what to do ?

Any help would be appreciated.

It's also not been asked if you were a business, ie buying or making things to resell. I know some on here have sold their personal belongings and considered what they sold to be "profit", so worth clarifying.

That's an excellent and vital point here.

tightauldgit

RFW said:

nat198 said:

Hi there,
I was ebay seller from 2016 to 2021 and need to disclose my profit to hmrc.
My estimated profit for

2016/2017 was £770
2017/2018 was £2,538
2018/2019 was £3,364
2019/2020 was £17,325
2020/2021 was £553

no more trading from april 2021
no turn over of 85K or above at any of those years
worked as full time while trading

HMRC has given me deadline of 10 august for payment and make a disclosure. I don't know what to do ?

Any help would be appreciated.

£85k turnover relates to registering for VAT. It's nothing to do with tax, not sure if you know that so just pointing it out.

If you're struggling I'd suggest getting in touch with an accountant. They'll deal with HMRC on your behalf and get your deadline extended where necessary.
They'll also help with knowing any other expenses you can claim back. You'd probably be looking at £2-300 accountancy fees.

If you don't want/can't afford an accountant my next suggestion would be to call HMRC yourself and ask for their help. If you have bank statements to back up that you weren't making very much then you may be able to email those and hold them off for a while.

It's also not been asked if you were a business, ie buying or making things to resell. I know some on here have sold their personal belongings and considered what they sold to be "profit", so worth clarifying.

OP did say they were 'trading' so not just a private seller selling their excess bits and bobs.