eBay HMRC Yearly Reporting Jan-Dec Apr-Apr?

Dave1UK

Hi,

So I occasionally sell on eBay and have been for many years (2018?), it's personal items (mostly from my hobbies).

Currently I'm having a clear out with my astronomy hobby things like telescope lenses and cameras etc.

I am aware of the threshold being either 30+ items sold or ~£1,700.00.

According to eBay they report yearly data based on the calendar year i.e. Jan-Dec. However HMRC deals in financial year terms i.e. Apr-Apr?

Does the "counter" reset in January or April?

I have seen some posts here and elsewhere whereby people are being asked to provide receipts and everything else which most of the times isn't possible, especially as a private seller you aren't running a business but selling things you may have bought 1/2/3 years ago. Not wanting to have to deal with such an inconvenience and headache I would rather only sell what I need to below the limit.

Appreciate any insight.

Thanks.

se2020

The 'counter' does not matter.

Ebay send the data to hmrc.
Hmrc search through it however they like.

A self-employed individual might choose to run their own tax year from the 18th of September to the 17th of September and hmrc xan Sort the ebay data to match the return for that period if they are conducting an investigation. 

But. Read some of the many other threads about this on here as you still don't need to worry about this if you are only selling old personal stuff.

se2020

If all you want to do is avoid the inconvenience of receiving a letter from hmrc then go from the January date.
Ie. Start selling now. End all the listings when you sell 30 items or €2000.

Then wait until next year to sell again.

Dave1UK

se2020 said:

The 'counter' does not matter.

Ebay send the data to hmrc.
Hmrc search through it however they like.

A self-employed individual might choose to run their own tax year from the 18th of September to the 17th of September and hmrc xan Sort the ebay data to match the return for that period if they are conducting an investigation. 

But. Read some of the many other threads about this on here as you still don't need to worry about this if you are only selling old personal stuff.

I guess as eBay have stated they send calendar year data i.e. Jan-Dec that is that.

Yeah we have no way of knowing what HMRC do with that data whether they just go back a year and check calendar as well as financial who knows.

se2020 said:

If all you want to do is avoid the inconvenience of receiving a letter from hmrc then go from the January date.
Ie. Start selling now. End all the listings when you sell 30 items or €2000.

Then wait until next year to sell again.

Indeed that is all I'm after, bit of pocket money would be nice to recoup from items I own, not like that amount goes a long way nowadays anyway.

I've laid out a spreadsheet for myself to keep track as eBay doesn't seem to have anything useful to track total sales/amount?

Calendar year:
2025 - 4 sales - ~£200.00.
2026 - 1 sale - ~£70.00.

Financial year:
2024:2025 - 16 sales - ~£500.00.
2025-2026 - 3 sales - ~£200.00.

Whatever they do with the data guess both ends are within the limit?

LITRG

Hello, you may find our guidance on how to use the calendar year data/statements from online platforms to help work out your tax position, helpful: https://www.litrg.org.uk/working/gig-economy/seller-information-statements. Thanks! 

se2020

Dave1UK said:

se2020 said:

The 'counter' does not matter.

Ebay send the data to hmrc.
Hmrc search through it however they like.

A self-employed individual might choose to run their own tax year from the 18th of September to the 17th of September and hmrc xan Sort the ebay data to match the return for that period if they are conducting an investigation. 

But. Read some of the many other threads about this on here as you still don't need to worry about this if you are only selling old personal stuff.

I guess as eBay have stated they send calendar year data i.e. Jan-Dec that is that.

Yeah we have no way of knowing what HMRC do with that data whether they just go back a year and check calendar as well as financial who knows.

se2020 said:

If all you want to do is avoid the inconvenience of receiving a letter from hmrc then go from the January date.
Ie. Start selling now. End all the listings when you sell 30 items or €2000.

Then wait until next year to sell again.

Indeed that is all I'm after, bit of pocket money would be nice to recoup from items I own, not like that amount goes a long way nowadays anyway.

I've laid out a spreadsheet for myself to keep track as eBay doesn't seem to have anything useful to track total sales/amount?

Calendar year:
2025 - 4 sales - ~£200.00.
2026 - 1 sale - ~£70.00.

Financial year:
2024:2025 - 16 sales - ~£500.00.
2025-2026 - 3 sales - ~£200.00.

Whatever they do with the data guess both ends are within the limit?

Click on 'my ebay'
Then 'selling overview'

Top left hand corner shows your year-to-date sales total. 
That resets on 1st January and I presume that is the same figure that is reported to hmrc.

Annoyingly that running total seems to include all sales including items that were canceled by the buyer or refunded due to being lost in the post or whatever so you may still want to keep the spreadsheet for your own records although there is not really any reason to keep records for personal sales.

RFW

Dave1UK said:

Hi,

So I occasionally sell on eBay and have been for many years (2018?), it's personal items (mostly from my hobbies).

Currently I'm having a clear out with my astronomy hobby things like telescope lenses and cameras etc.

I am aware of the threshold being either 30+ items sold or ~£1,700.00.

According to eBay they report yearly data based on the calendar year i.e. Jan-Dec. However HMRC deals in financial year terms i.e. Apr-Apr?

Does the "counter" reset in January or April?

I have seen some posts here and elsewhere whereby people are being asked to provide receipts and everything else which most of the times isn't possible, especially as a private seller you aren't running a business but selling things you may have bought 1/2/3 years ago. Not wanting to have to deal with such an inconvenience and headache I would rather only sell what I need to below the limit.

Appreciate any insight.

Thanks.

HMRC have said that if you are selling your own items, that weren't bought or made to be resold, then you aren't liable to any tax from it. If you're unsure you can contact HMRC and ask them. They're easy enough to speak to, if they occasionally take a while to answer.

TimeLord1

They still have to submit details if you exceed the threshold regardless if it's your items or you've made or bought to sell on.

Calculator 

https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/guidance/check-non-paye-income/start/how-did-you-receive-additional-income

RFW

I'd always recommend getting advice from a professional. OP seems to be clearly not anything that could be deemed a business but even if they were, any tax liabilities would be fairly low. A decent accountant could sort figures out so there wouldn't be much liability. On my first visit to an accountant I ended up with a rebate as I'd neglected claiming something or other when I was doing it all myself.

Dave1UK

RFW said:

Dave1UK said:

Hi,

So I occasionally sell on eBay and have been for many years (2018?), it's personal items (mostly from my hobbies).

Currently I'm having a clear out with my astronomy hobby things like telescope lenses and cameras etc.

I am aware of the threshold being either 30+ items sold or ~£1,700.00.

According to eBay they report yearly data based on the calendar year i.e. Jan-Dec. However HMRC deals in financial year terms i.e. Apr-Apr?

Does the "counter" reset in January or April?

I have seen some posts here and elsewhere whereby people are being asked to provide receipts and everything else which most of the times isn't possible, especially as a private seller you aren't running a business but selling things you may have bought 1/2/3 years ago. Not wanting to have to deal with such an inconvenience and headache I would rather only sell what I need to below the limit.

Appreciate any insight.

Thanks.

HMRC have said that if you are selling your own items, that weren't bought or made to be resold, then you aren't liable to any tax from it. If you're unsure you can contact HMRC and ask them. They're easy enough to speak to, if they occasionally take a while to answer.

Thanks, yeah I am aware of the general guidelines however as seen on forums this isn't as black and white in some cases? It just seems like an absolute hassle to even have to deal with HMRC in such cases or any other entity for just selling used items which you do have a right to but if questioned you have to 'waste' your own time potentially having to justify it. Sometimes common sense isn't as common.

TimeLord1 said:

They still have to submit details if you exceed the threshold regardless if it's your items or you've made or bought to sell on.

Calculator 

https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/guidance/check-non-paye-income/start/how-did-you-receive-additional-income

Thanks, yes aware that if you exceed their limits it's reported.

RFW said:

I'd always recommend getting advice from a professional. OP seems to be clearly not anything that could be deemed a business but even if they were, any tax liabilities would be fairly low. A decent accountant could sort figures out so there wouldn't be much liability. On my first visit to an accountant I ended up with a rebate as I'd neglected claiming something or other when I was doing it all myself.

Again all well and fair and understood. Then again having to go out of ones own way to get an accountant, pay for the accountants time for items I have bought, paid tax on, used and just want to sell as no longer use? This is the sort of process businesses go through! Seems counter intuitive. If you're already taking that first step you may as well just start selling as a business on eBay and other platforms.

TimeLord1

Some people are selling thousands of items, thinking that as they're claiming they're personal possessions, they will be left alone, but once NI details are requested, they will probably go on the offensive. The platform has to submit where those grey area sales happen. Once the Private sales when thresholds are passed.