Any eBayers been contacted by Inland Revenue?

mah_jong

pgilc1 wrote:

They ARE entitled to a cut of any extra income you make full stop Bleugh. For example if you are on 25K a year and make an extra 10K a year you would have to pay tax as if you were on 35K a year. And that even applies down to relatively small amounts.

I'd still gather up what you can, again unwanted gifts and stuff are probably still ok. If you are absolutely honest with them and give them all the info you have clearly documented, then you should be ok even if they do make you pay a small amount.

If they have any reason to believe you are lying then they will start to make assumptions and tax you accordingly...

Good luck, and yes there are some sad people out there.....

I thought if you earned £25k ..then made £10k through another employer then it would be taxed if if you earned £35k.....but if you make the £10k through self emplymnet then, you have your expenses etc to come off this. Its too different type of earnings. There is also NI cotruibutions to condsider too
Though I dont know enough of the ins and outs BUT I am employed and self employed. But the latter is small fry lots less than £10k, and I have an excemption certificate for NI on that.

So as keep records up to date and accurate!

bluep

The new IR department recently set up is the anti-avoidence department and they aren't focusing on eBay specifically, but people making secondary income off the internet do fall into their remit. I think the only course of action is to declare your activities to the IR in this case and let them decide what tax if any you are due to pay. Any assumptions made by them due to lack of declaration/evidence of activities could be worse than an honest decision i.e. backdating tax due to previous years etc....

Taken from a recent UK Tax World article (rather shameful that I read this LOL):

Trading on eBay

Will the tax man take an interest in your eBay trading? The answer is yes and no!
Yes it is a topic which may arise during any self assessment enquiry - the Inland Revenue may take an interest if:

You are an established trader.
You buy goods at other sales, or on eBay, with the intention of selling them on at a profit.
You sell sets or collections to an individual or connected individuals where the total proceeds exceed £6,000.
You sell a personal car registration number, classed as an intangible and therefore fully liable to CGT.
The taxman will NOT be interested in sales of your own personal, unwanted, household items either bought and sold for less than £6,000 or where their life is less than 50 years. Such disposals are covered by the "chattels exemption".

As for declaring yourself in the trade/self-employed catagory, that has very specific ramifications as has been pointed out - particularly in terms of keeping accounts, business insurance for house and car and working out what expenses are tax deducatable can be a nightmare of a muddle especially as you may then have some things that are calculated to be taxable benefits!! I would steer clear of this unless your activities definately fall into the self-employed spectrum and you have to look into this.