HMRC sent online marketplace letter for undeclared sales.

mybestattempt

silvercar said:

eskbanker said:

silvercar said:

If I recall there are some very good reasons for having more than one eBay account. It’s not just to take advantage of new user offers etc but listing things for collection from an area that isn’t your main accounts base attaches the wrong area/ postcode to the items, so buyers on a collection only auction don’t see where the item actually is. Even if you put the location in the description, the searches will show it as being at your home base. 

But surely the issue isn't about how convenient it is for sellers to have multiple Ebay accounts, and is simply (as far as HMRC is concerned) about who holds the accounts and is therefore liable to taxation on the associated income?

Given that some people have accounts in the name of deceased relatives and pets, who does hold the accounts? And if we accept that the beneficial ownership of the accounts in the name of deceased relatives and pets is a different person, surely that person can have beneficial ownership of accounts of people that are alive? Remember, certainly for eBay user IDs that have a small amount of activity, the only ID is a made up user name, an email address and a name. So there is no checking of NI numbers etc for small activity accounts.

I don't understand why you think that the concept of beneficial ownership (which does not apply in all jurisdictions) extends to an eBay account. 

I don't use any online selling platforms but my understanding is that a user/seller has a service agreement with the platform owner and I'm not sure how that can be an asset (with title and monetary value) of the seller.

eskbanker

silvercar said:

eskbanker said:

silvercar said:

If I recall there are some very good reasons for having more than one eBay account. It’s not just to take advantage of new user offers etc but listing things for collection from an area that isn’t your main accounts base attaches the wrong area/ postcode to the items, so buyers on a collection only auction don’t see where the item actually is. Even if you put the location in the description, the searches will show it as being at your home base. 

But surely the issue isn't about how convenient it is for sellers to have multiple Ebay accounts, and is simply (as far as HMRC is concerned) about who holds the accounts and is therefore liable to taxation on the associated income?

Given that some people have accounts in the name of deceased relatives and pets, who does hold the accounts? And if we accept that the beneficial ownership of the accounts in the name of deceased relatives and pets is a different person, surely that person can have beneficial ownership of accounts of people that are alive? Remember, certainly for eBay user IDs that have a small amount of activity, the only ID is a made up user name, an email address and a name. So there is no checking of NI numbers etc for small activity accounts.

I'm not familiar enough with Ebay's ID verification and other policies, but even if it's true that there are accounts without an obvious connection to their actual owner, I don't believe that this offers some sort of tax amnesty for accounts that are in the name of an identifiable real person, such as OP's wife, who are thereby subject to taxation on income like the rest of us?

silvercar

eskbanker said:

silvercar said:

eskbanker said:

silvercar said:

If I recall there are some very good reasons for having more than one eBay account. It’s not just to take advantage of new user offers etc but listing things for collection from an area that isn’t your main accounts base attaches the wrong area/ postcode to the items, so buyers on a collection only auction don’t see where the item actually is. Even if you put the location in the description, the searches will show it as being at your home base. 

But surely the issue isn't about how convenient it is for sellers to have multiple Ebay accounts, and is simply (as far as HMRC is concerned) about who holds the accounts and is therefore liable to taxation on the associated income?

Given that some people have accounts in the name of deceased relatives and pets, who does hold the accounts? And if we accept that the beneficial ownership of the accounts in the name of deceased relatives and pets is a different person, surely that person can have beneficial ownership of accounts of people that are alive? Remember, certainly for eBay user IDs that have a small amount of activity, the only ID is a made up user name, an email address and a name. So there is no checking of NI numbers etc for small activity accounts.

I'm not familiar enough with Ebay's ID verification and other policies, but even if it's true that there are accounts without an obvious connection to their actual owner, I don't believe that this offers some sort of tax amnesty for accounts that are in the name of an identifiable real person, such as OP's wife, who are thereby subject to taxation on income like the rest of us?

I was saying that the tax is declared by the owner of the account, not necessarily the name of the user. Given the lack of verification of small accounts, the name used could be anyone at all. Just because they exist, does that mean that a Jane Smith has to pay the tax, even though she has no connection and may not even know the person operating the account?

Hoenir

silvercar said:

eskbanker said:

silvercar said:

eskbanker said:

silvercar said:

If I recall there are some very good reasons for having more than one eBay account. It’s not just to take advantage of new user offers etc but listing things for collection from an area that isn’t your main accounts base attaches the wrong area/ postcode to the items, so buyers on a collection only auction don’t see where the item actually is. Even if you put the location in the description, the searches will show it as being at your home base. 

But surely the issue isn't about how convenient it is for sellers to have multiple Ebay accounts, and is simply (as far as HMRC is concerned) about who holds the accounts and is therefore liable to taxation on the associated income?

Given that some people have accounts in the name of deceased relatives and pets, who does hold the accounts? And if we accept that the beneficial ownership of the accounts in the name of deceased relatives and pets is a different person, surely that person can have beneficial ownership of accounts of people that are alive? Remember, certainly for eBay user IDs that have a small amount of activity, the only ID is a made up user name, an email address and a name. So there is no checking of NI numbers etc for small activity accounts.

I'm not familiar enough with Ebay's ID verification and other policies, but even if it's true that there are accounts without an obvious connection to their actual owner, I don't believe that this offers some sort of tax amnesty for accounts that are in the name of an identifiable real person, such as OP's wife, who are thereby subject to taxation on income like the rest of us?

I was saying that the tax is declared by the owner of the account, not necessarily the name of the user. Given the lack of verification of small accounts, the name used could be anyone at all. Just because they exist, does that mean that a Jane Smith has to pay the tax, even though she has no connection and may not even know the person operating the account?

Getting silly now, entering the realm of conspracy theories.  Taking the post totally off track.  

eskbanker

silvercar said:

eskbanker said:

silvercar said:

eskbanker said:

silvercar said:

If I recall there are some very good reasons for having more than one eBay account. It’s not just to take advantage of new user offers etc but listing things for collection from an area that isn’t your main accounts base attaches the wrong area/ postcode to the items, so buyers on a collection only auction don’t see where the item actually is. Even if you put the location in the description, the searches will show it as being at your home base. 

But surely the issue isn't about how convenient it is for sellers to have multiple Ebay accounts, and is simply (as far as HMRC is concerned) about who holds the accounts and is therefore liable to taxation on the associated income?

Given that some people have accounts in the name of deceased relatives and pets, who does hold the accounts? And if we accept that the beneficial ownership of the accounts in the name of deceased relatives and pets is a different person, surely that person can have beneficial ownership of accounts of people that are alive? Remember, certainly for eBay user IDs that have a small amount of activity, the only ID is a made up user name, an email address and a name. So there is no checking of NI numbers etc for small activity accounts.

I'm not familiar enough with Ebay's ID verification and other policies, but even if it's true that there are accounts without an obvious connection to their actual owner, I don't believe that this offers some sort of tax amnesty for accounts that are in the name of an identifiable real person, such as OP's wife, who are thereby subject to taxation on income like the rest of us?

I was saying that the tax is declared by the owner of the account, not necessarily the name of the user. Given the lack of verification of small accounts, the name used could be anyone at all. Just because they exist, does that mean that a Jane Smith has to pay the tax, even though she has no connection and may not even know the person operating the account?

If someone receives a tax demand as a result of an Ebay account that they genuinely know nothing about, then I'm sure they should be able to convince HMRC of the identity theft!  It seems unlikely that that line of defence is open to OP's wife though....