Sales figure wrong. Ebay HMRC reporting.

soolin

messia07 said:

GadgetGuru said:

Uploading your NI details doesn't automatically mean you will be liable for tax, or even contacted by HMRC. eBay are just doing what they are required to do by law. If they are rightly private sales and you are a private seller then you should be fine, even if contacted by HMRC. Upload your Ni number, and continue selling as normal. Genuine private sellers not trading should have nothing to worry about. 

I just don’t understand how we’re meant to prove that we are selling our own items?  I don’t have receipts for old or secondhand items.

Unless you 'look' like a trader I wouldn't even start to worry about it. HMRC aren't even going to be able to 'catch' all the real traders- unless it's obvious. 

I'm out of date now but when I used to do formal advice via a volunteering service most people 'caught' were turned in by friends or relatives fed up of people cheating the system. Most of those were sellers of second hand clothes who seemed to have an unlimited supply of adult and child clothing in every conceivable size and colour - even the most hardened of hoarders might struggle to prove they had 40 women's coats in various sizes from size 8 - 28 they  decided to sell at the same time. 

Currently I'm aware of someone with an HMRC letter for selling just about everything Primark sells, offering every colour every size and offering to pop back to the shop if the size someone wants isn't showing on their listings. I also came across someone on a forum with HMRC letter who had quite a thriving business making and selling jewellery at fairs - her profile picture on one site apparently showed her stall set up and again her wording said she could make just about anything that people wanted if they asked.

 HMRC are unlikely to challenge anyone with just a few random items, a mix of the usual type of stuff you have lying around - even in large quantities if it looks right you won't even get looked at by the bots.