Paying Tax to HMRC for selling my own personal collection?

Hoenir

What's the nature of the personal collection? Any evidence as to how it was accumulated?  The HMRC are human. Wise to the stunts that people try endlessly. Genuine sellers should have no fears. 

Venomspread3r

It was lots of stuff from my 'Man Cave' - models, comics, Pop funkos etc lots of nerdy/geeky stuff I brought some of it years back & the rest was given as gifts for birthdays/Xmas etc.

As for evidence of how it was collected I guess looking back at years worth of bank statements or asking family members for a receipt of something they brought me years back which would be awkward considering it's been sold (at a loss)

Venomspread3r

*update* I did send an email to an accountant and got a response of "if it's over £2000 you need to do self assessment" he didn't seem to know the rules regarding wether this was selling unwanted items Vs buying to resell (trading) 🤦🏻‍♂️

He followed up with "Whether its your personal if you get more than £1000 in a year you have to declare it"

So now I'm confused 😂

GadgetGuru

Venomspread3r said:

*update* I did send an email to an accountant and got a response of "if it's over £2000 you need to do self assessment" he didn't seem to know the rules regarding wether this was selling unwanted items Vs buying to resell (trading) 🤦🏻‍♂️

He followed up with "Whether its your personal if you get more than £1000 in a year you have to declare it"

So now I'm confused 😂

Ummmmm......yeh.......find a better accountant!

Venomspread3r

Haha @GadgetGuru I think you may be right haha

Venomspread3r

Not sure if this helps I've just spoken to Ebay support on the phone the chap I spoke to said I don't need to do anything with my account unless it exceeds £85k he did mention something about declaring a VAT number because I'd sold over 30 items but his English was pretty broken there is only so many ways I can say "can you please repeat that" I'm still not entirely sure whats going on but ill just put a bit of money aside each month incase I do get hit with a taxi bill worst case if i don't id have saved a little pot of money.

RFW

Venomspread3r said:

Not sure if this helps I've just spoken to Ebay support on the phone the chap I spoke to said I don't need to do anything with my account unless it exceeds £85k he did mention something about declaring a VAT number because I'd sold over 30 items but his English was pretty broken there is only so many ways I can say "can you please repeat that" I'm still not entirely sure whats going on but ill just put a bit of money aside each month incase I do get hit with a taxi bill worst case if i don't id have saved a little pot of money.

That's really terrible information. £85,000 is the VAT declaring threshold. Any business that turns over £85,000 or more in a 12 month period has to register for VAT. If you're selling your own stuff you wouldn't have to declare VAT, you may have to look at capital gains tax at that kind of level but that's a whole other area.

I'm just shaking my head that anyone at Ebay would spout such nonsense rather than referring you to someone else or sending a link to HMRC or Ebay pages with information on.

Venomspread3r

I did think it was strange & not relevant I'll just put a little spare pot of cash away SHOULD I get a message from eBay/HMRC I won't open a can of worms if I don't have to but atleast I'm prepared should it happen.
Thanks ever so much everyone for chipping in & helping it's very much appreciated 👍🏻 

martindow

Regarding accountants. many offer a free initial consultation.  Even with their sales pitch, you will have time to ask a few questions.  I find it a good idea to write down the key points I want answers to as half an hour whistles past if you or the accountant don't keep to the point!

Like others, I don't think you have anything to worry about, but it will be good to be reassured.

LITRG

Hello. We are the Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (LITRG), part of the Chartered Institute of Taxation who are an educational charity. We are not part of HMRC or MSE. Although we can’t give individual advice, you might find our website information about your tax position when selling items and what the platforms might report to HMRC useful: https://www.litrg.org.uk/working/gig-economy/oecd-rules. If you require further help, we recommend that you contact a tax adviser, HMRC or one of the tax charities where relevant. You can find more information about where to get help with tax here: https://www.litrg.org.uk/tax-nic/getting-help-tax. Thanks.