Self Assessment for HMRC?

Mr_Countdown

Hi. I’ve been selling things on eBay for a while which are partly my own items I don’t want anymore and also things I’ve picked up in charity shops and car boot sales. 

I want to abide by HMRC rules so does anyone know the time scale for completing a self assessment form online and also the whole process?

I want to be able to show on the form the things that I’ve bought to make a little money and also the things I’ve owned from new and am just selling at a loss secondhand so aren’t applicable for tax. 

Also I want to be able to offset my overheads like packaging, petrol etc on the form. 

I’ve never completed a self assessment form before as I worked for an employee so any help would be much appreciated. 

For further info I’m retired now and claiming a small pension just below the personal allowance of £12,570. 

Thank you. 

Andyjflet

Use a quickbook type package will are easy to use and will do most of the work for you. At minimum tax rate I don't think you are talking about large tax bills? 

RFW

Mr_Countdown said:

Hi. I’ve been selling things on eBay for a while which are partly my own items I don’t want anymore and also things I’ve picked up in charity shops and car boot sales. 

I want to abide by HMRC rules so does anyone know the time scale for completing a self assessment form online and also the whole process?

I want to be able to show on the form the things that I’ve bought to make a little money and also the things I’ve owned from new and am just selling at a loss secondhand so aren’t applicable for tax. 

Also I want to be able to offset my overheads like packaging, petrol etc on the form. 

I’ve never completed a self assessment form before as I worked for an employee so any help would be much appreciated. 

For further info I’m retired now and claiming a small pension just below the personal allowance of £12,570. 

Thank you. 

You might find it beneficial seeing an accountant. Chances are you would end up paying nothing and may even get something back. If you did it yourself then you may end up paying more than you need.

You only need to declare items you have purchased (or made) with the intention of selling and then only when turnover in 12 months reaches £1000.

If you don't want to then you can look at the HMRC website for help, they have quite a lo of resources from help sheets to videos. You can also call them, although they can leave you hanging on the phone for hours.

soolin

Your own things that you are selling do not form any part of your self assessment and should be ignored completely. 

You only need to account for things that you bought with an intention to sell, and even then you don't need to declare unless your total turnover (including any postage charged) exceeds the £1000 trading allowance in any tax year.

For the tax year ending 5th April 2024 you would need to have submitted by October 2024 if on paper, or end of January 2025 if online.

Mr_Countdown

Thank you everyone for your kind and helpful comments. I do actually buy and sell quite a large amount of times to try and make some money as I can’t exist on my pension at the moment. And as my pension using all my personal allowance everything I sell for profit is taxable and I make around £500 a month from items bought to sell. 

I agree maybe an accountant would be the right move. What sort of cost would they charge for an end of year self assessment?
and would I just supply the figures and they would advise what I can claim for back like petrol, packaging etc?
Thank you. 

soolin

Mr_Countdown said:

Thank you everyone for your kind and helpful comments. I do actually buy and sell quite a large amount of times to try and make some money as I can’t exist on my pension at the moment. And as my pension using all my personal allowance everything I sell for profit is taxable and I make around £500 a month from items bought to sell. 

I agree maybe an accountant would be the right move. What sort of cost would they charge for an end of year self assessment?
and would I just supply the figures and they would advise what I can claim for back like petrol, packaging etc?
Thank you. 

Accountants can be costly , but it might be worth using one for the first year keeping all the paperwork and just following the accounts and do it yourself for future years.

I keep paper books, I was trained that way and am old fashioned, and it works for me, but do look at some of the apps as I understand they can be very good. 

Basically though at the level you are talking about doing it yourself is easy. I will talk in terms of paper books, but I think it might even be easier with an app.I use a cash accounting basis which is really simple.  I keep a note of everything that I take in that I sell in the course of my trade, that’s item price, postage received etc. Then I keep a seperate book with all my outgoings, actual postage paid, eBay fees (I’ll refer to eBay but I do sell across a few sites and amalgamate it all) , plus all costs attached to my business including cost of items I’ve bought in that year, printer ink, parking costs if I’ve gone to a stockist or auction packaging etc.  I then do my self assessment online, I enter all the income received as one lump figure, then all the expenses as a single lump figure and the tax return then shows the net taxable income. 

It is basically just 2 figures, all in and all out. 

Then once I fill in my other income the computer calculates if there is any tax due. 

RFW

Mr_Countdown said:

I agree maybe an accountant would be the right move. What sort of cost would they charge for an end of year self assessment?
and would I just supply the figures and they would advise what I can claim for back like petrol, packaging etc?
Thank you. 

They're all different in charges. What you need is a small local accountant, maybe even one that works from home. Find three or four and get some quotes and find one that fits.

powerful_Rogue

Mr_Countdown said:

Thank you everyone for your kind and helpful comments. I do actually buy and sell quite a large amount of times to try and make some money as I can’t exist on my pension at the moment. And as my pension using all my personal allowance everything I sell for profit is taxable and I make around £500 a month from items bought to sell. 

I agree maybe an accountant would be the right move. What sort of cost would they charge for an end of year self assessment?
and would I just supply the figures and they would advise what I can claim for back like petrol, packaging etc?
Thank you. 

Exactly why they are focusing on these kind of accounts now.

MetaPhysical

soolin said:

Your own things that you are selling do not form any part of your self assessment and should be ignored completely. 

You only need to account for things that you bought with an intention to sell, and even then you don't need to declare unless your total turnover (including any postage charged) exceeds the £1000 trading allowance in any tax year.

For the tax year ending 5th April 2024 you would need to have submitted by October 2024 if on paper, or end of January 2025 if online.

Agreed.  However, the money you received for those personal things you sell will be mixed into the same eBay numbers that they report to HMRC for the "for profit" things you make and sell.  So do you simply deduct the items that were your own things from the total eBay reported number?

For example, eBay report, say, £10000 to HMRC - i.e. the total sales.  However, £2000 of that was my own junk I sold when I moved home - old tables, chairs ladders, TV, settee etc.  Does that mean that the sales turnover I did on eBay is £8000 that I put onto the SA???

soolin

MetaPhysical said:

soolin said:

Your own things that you are selling do not form any part of your self assessment and should be ignored completely. 

You only need to account for things that you bought with an intention to sell, and even then you don't need to declare unless your total turnover (including any postage charged) exceeds the £1000 trading allowance in any tax year.

For the tax year ending 5th April 2024 you would need to have submitted by October 2024 if on paper, or end of January 2025 if online.

Agreed.  However, the money you received for those personal things you sell will be mixed into the same eBay numbers that they report to HMRC for the "for profit" things you make and sell.  So do you simply deduct the items that were your own things from the total eBay reported number?

For example, eBay report, say, £10000 to HMRC - i.e. the total sales.  However, £2000 of that was my own junk I sold when I moved home - old tables, chairs ladders, TV, settee etc.  Does that mean that the sales turnover I did on eBay is £8000 that I put onto the SA???

Strictly speaking anyone selling as a business should be using an ebay business account so there shouldn't be any issues as it's easy to identify which amount is for private sales and which is for business. If you are not currently using a business account then just keep records of what items are considered business, and report them on your self assessment.

I've no idea how HMRC will view business income on a private account where there are also private sales- but they don't 'police' ebay it just might be more important to keep really good records to show the separation .

However the advice remails the same, monies being reported to HMRC by any online retailer is just a lump figure on  a multi reporting tool. It would be up to any individual to report actual earnings from a business independently on their self assessment form - if applicable.

MetaPhysical

@soolin Thanks,  Ok, so say you make  and sell stuff on Vinted, Etsy, Ebay and other platforms.  You total the sales, expenses and profit of each individually and total them all together - is that what you mean? You enter these three numbers amalgamating all your selling platforms on your SA as sales/expenses and profit?  Would they not want to see those numbers on each platform individually?  Of course, I have comprehensive numbers detailing the trading numbers on each were I asked for them.

I am familiar with doing a personal SA.  Simple stuff.  When you register as a sole trader, how many more pages are there on the SA to fill out?  Just another page with those three boxes?