New message from eBay re HMRC reporting

soolin

It looks like eBay are getting a bit fed up of the constant questions about the new HMRC reporting rules as well as the rest of us. All I see on various forums is people saying ‘I’ve tried contacting eBay several times for clarification and don’t understand what it means’ . This is the new message I think we have all received today ..

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sellercentre/selling/selling-online-and-hmrc?_trkparms=pageci%3A0afa76b9-ed05-11ee-9915-86d5aa6123e8%7Cparentrq%3A8532291318e0ab4c139bd2f9ffff5198%7Ciid%3A3%7Cvlpname%3Avlp_homepage

I'm still seeing loads of posts from people talking about civil liberties, moaning that they are now taxing mums when they sell the clothes their children have outgrown, and even a few ventures into Freeman of the Land territory. 

Hoenir

Rarely is there smoke without fire........

soolin

Hoenir said:

Rarely is there smoke without fire........

I'm not sure what that is implying?
At the moment there has been no changes, nor any announcements to changes about Income tax, or even Capital gains tax in relation to private sales. What there has been is a large increase in sellers running small businesses and not declaring them as such. 

Hoenir

There'll be many traders operating under the guise of personal accounts. The HMRC's ability to join the dots across many data sources now. Enables them to fire off enquiry letters. 

jeffuk

I haven't heard the £6000 figure before.

"We want to give you peace of mind that there’s no new ‘side hustle tax’ or a change to existing tax rules for selling online.

In general, selling personal items is not taxed if they’re below £6,000 and you’re not selling as part of a business."

soolin

jeffuk said:

I haven't heard the £6000 figure before.

"We want to give you peace of mind that there’s no new ‘side hustle tax’ or a change to existing tax rules for selling online.

In general, selling personal items is not taxed if they’re below £6,000 and you’re not selling as part of a business."

The £6000 refers to capital gains not income tax.

rollingmoon

soolin said:

ventures into Freeman of the Land territory. 

That's a bad place to go

forgotmyname

rollingmoon said:

soolin said:

ventures into Freeman of the Land territory. 

That's a bad place to go

Not if your on YouTube and bored.  Great for a bit of a giggle as you wonder how people can be that stupid.

Especially when they are from the UK and spout US laws.  Some of them are sad though, lost their licences for
whatever reason and taken in by some charlatan selling fake law documents.

They spout off about suing the police for stopping their unregistered/uninsured vehicle and I am thinking you need
to sue the person that sold you the false information.  One that calls himself a "Constitutional Law Scholar" just
got 180days for interfering with someone elses traffic stop and possibly due more jail time for the same thing.

In court he said people on the internet gave him that title..  What a Joke and yet desperate people will find and buy into
what I would call a scam making them think they can drive without a licence or insurance etc.

Pollycat

I have a bit of an issue with the message from eBay.

It clearly states:

In general, selling personal items is not taxed if they’re below £6,000 and you’re not selling as part of a business.

I understand that and I just sell personal items.

However, in the first example, it says:

Grace sells old clothes to make space in her wardrobe. Even if she sells a lot of her old or unwanted clothes she isn’t trading and sells her old clothes for less than she paid for them, so there is no tax.

the bit in bold is not mentioned in the first statement.

So what happens if I bought a jacket 5 years ago and it's since become a wanted item and it sells for £20.00 more than I originally paid for it?

I'm still selling a personal item.
How many people can remember what they paid for an item of clothing 5 years ago?

And what about gold items?
We all know the price of gold is rising.
I paid £200 for a gold chain 20 years ago.
Scrap price is now £400 and it sells for £425 - more than I paid for it.

I'm still selling a personal item.
But not for less than I paid for it.

The eBay message is not clear enough.

GDB2222

The £6000 allowance is reduced to £3000 from 6 April. 

GDB2222

It’s worth noting that items with a lifespan of less than 50 years are not subject to capital gains tax. So, even if you sell your children's old clothes for a profit, there’s no CGT.