Side hustle - shop on Etsy

nisob

Hi,

I am thinking of running a small business to sell scarfs from home as a side hustle. During my visit to Kashmir, I bought some scarfs and brought them along with me as a tester. I have set up an etsy shop but i am very hesitant to publish the shop until I know of the taxes. I have always been a PAYE employee in the UK and never self-managed taxes. This batch of shawls is only for tester and won't get me profit more than £300. Do I need to register as a VAT business if I am going to be Individual seller on Etsy? How do I start learning or assessing my tax calculation? £300 profit is less than my personal allowance so hopefully I wouldn't need to worry at this stage but I would definitely like to grow this business further if it works well for the starters. Shall I inform HMRC of the shop? 

Kind Regards

DullGreyGuy

Profit is irrelevant for registration, it's what your revenue is... you only need to register as self employed in the financial year you exceed £1,000 of gross sales. You only need to register for VAT if you are selling over £85,000 in a 12 month period. 

There are many more considerations though... does your Home insurance company know you are holding stock for your business? Most insurers won't touch you if you are... saw a claim for over £300,000 for a massive fire declined because the insurer found out they were storing stock. 

Likewise you'll need to check your tenancy agreement, mortgage and deeds as appropriate as many prohibit running a business outside of pure clerical work. 

Obviously the majority of people just dont declare it either out of ignorance of thinking they'll get away with it but so did the family that lost everything to a fire. 

nisob

DullGreyGuy said:

Profit is irrelevant for registration, it's what your revenue is... you only need to register as self employed in the financial year you exceed £1,000 of gross sales. You only need to register for VAT if you are selling over £85,000 in a 12 month period. 

There are many more considerations though... does your Home insurance company know you are holding stock for your business? Most insurers won't touch you if you are... saw a claim for over £300,000 for a massive fire declined because the insurer found out they were storing stock. 

Likewise you'll need to check your tenancy agreement, mortgage and deeds as appropriate as many prohibit running a business outside of pure clerical work. 

Obviously the majority of people just dont declare it either out of ignorance of thinking they'll get away with it but so did the family that lost everything to a fire. 

Thank you very much for the advice. I am looking to contact my mortgage and home insurance both. I certainly understand the implications. The more honest, the better it is.

I had read somewhere that one must make sure to register with HMRC no more than 3 months after they start trading?

DullGreyGuy

nisob said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Profit is irrelevant for registration, it's what your revenue is... you only need to register as self employed in the financial year you exceed £1,000 of gross sales. You only need to register for VAT if you are selling over £85,000 in a 12 month period. 

There are many more considerations though... does your Home insurance company know you are holding stock for your business? Most insurers won't touch you if you are... saw a claim for over £300,000 for a massive fire declined because the insurer found out they were storing stock. 

Likewise you'll need to check your tenancy agreement, mortgage and deeds as appropriate as many prohibit running a business outside of pure clerical work. 

Obviously the majority of people just dont declare it either out of ignorance of thinking they'll get away with it but so did the family that lost everything to a fire. 

Thank you very much for the advice. I am looking to contact my mortgage and home insurance both. I certainly understand the implications. The more honest, the better it is.

I had read somewhere that one must make sure to register with HMRC no more than 3 months after they start trading?

That was the old rules, under the new rules its the 5th October after the financial year that you first exceed the £1,000 revenue unless HMRC tell you to do so earlier. You are free to register earlier if you want naturally. 

Jenna_Appleseed

Etsy is for selling hand made goods (or items you've personally designed and had hand manufactured for you, i.e via a print on demand company), vintage items (over 20 years old) and craft supplies, not for selling/re-selling other people's products.

" Everything listed for sale on Etsy must be handmade by you, vintage, or a craft supply. "
https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-gb/articles/360024112614-What-Can-I-Sell-on-Etsy

"Handmade itemsHandmade items are items that are made and/or designed by you, the seller.
If you sell handmade items, you must: Physically make or create the original designs for your items.Include each person involved in making your items or running your business in the About section of your shop. If you work with a production partner, you must disclose that production partner in your relevant listings. Use your own photographs in your listings."