Email From Ebay Asking If Private Or Business Seller

moneysavingchicken

I am 100% in favour of compliance with leglislation; however, note that in America there is no such rule enforced by eBay for declaring busines status/address on eBay and meanwhile the American economy and US tax collection system are not collapsing as a result. So it seems peculiar that of all the laws which arguably can be better enforced, this one affecting little micro-businesses run by minor market players only looking to make a little bit of money (and arguably reduce their prospect of having to rely on public funds) is being so scrutinized at this time. As eBay has said this is due to European business regulation, it would also be interesting to see if only the UK is pressing for the enforcement or if other European countries are equally concerned.

If the Taxman is going to hunt down tiny eBayers, shouldn't it also deploy it's reconaissance teams among bootsales at school carparks and similar locations throughout the country?

photonbucket

This thread is pretty interesting. Hopefully the taxman won't chase those small time sellers out there.

Soolin, as helpful as you are, it seems to me that you are taking the rules so literally. Many people sell a few bits and bobs online that they picked up cheap etc etc..

You seem like the sort of self rightous person who would call in the police station on the way home saying, "I think I went 35 in a 30 limit last thursday, please arrest me!!".

soolin

photonbucket wrote: »

This thread is pretty interesting. Hopefully the taxman won't chase those small time sellers out there.

Soolin, as helpful as you are, it seems to me that you are taking the rules so literally. Many people sell a few bits and bobs online that they picked up cheap etc etc..

You seem like the sort of self rightous person who would call in the police station on the way home saying, "I think I went 35 in a 30 limit last thursday, please arrest me!!".

Explaining the rules and reporting to them are two different things and I am sorry you fail to see the difference.

I will try and make things clearer in future.

I honestly can't see the point of pretending there is not a requirement to register for tax, this is MSE if any of us routinely stated that smaller seller won't get caught what sort of advice would that be? At the very least it is misleading..if anyone went further and advises smaller sellers that they need not register as they were unlikely to get caught what sort of advice would that be? I think it would be seen as misleading at best and criminal at worst.

Personally I would rather we had a thread like this than one from an angry seller who had been led to believe there was no need to register. I think we've all seen the benefit cheat adverts which are along the same lines, 'no ifs no buts'.

So to make it clearer so that I cannot be misunderstood I can confirm that anyone buying to sell is a trader needs to register with HMRC. Whether they have a tax liability to pay depends on the rest of their circumstances and it may well be that many smaller sellers on here are already registered but have no requirement to pay tax.

I do not understand your point about taking the rules too literally..they are rules they don't get put aside because you don't agree with them. A rule can only be taken literally, there is no other way of dealing with it

georgina_fenwick

I had one of these messages when i visited myebay yesterday, i have not sold anything on there yet, i keep putting it off because of all the horror stories i read on here.

I clicked for a personal account, but now don't really know where i would stand if i was to sell the things i have been keeping to sell.

The reason is a while ago i bought some knickers in the sale from my catalogue and as usual went way overboard and bought about 20 packs, (have trouble controlling myself when i see a bargain) then decided to change to a different kind, so i have got them all sitting upstairs in the packs they came in, never been opened.

NOW if i was to sell them they would see me as a business trader, wouldn't they?



Georgina

soolin

As you would almost certainly sell them at a loss you would not have a tax liability anyway so registering with HMRC would not mean you would pay any tax.

However looking purely at the ebay side of things, if you haven't even sold yet then why not go for a private account, and just upgrade when you decide to trade?

moneysavingchicken

georgina_fenwick wrote: »

I had one of these messages when i visited myebay yesterday, i have not sold anything on there yet, i keep putting it off because of all the horror stories i read on here.

I clicked for a personal account, but now don't really know where i would stand if i was to sell the things i have been keeping to sell.

The reason is a while ago i bought some knickers in the sale from my catalogue and as usual went way overboard and bought about 20 packs, (have trouble controlling myself when i see a bargain) then decided to change to a different kind, so i have got them all sitting upstairs in the packs they came in, never been opened.

NOW if i was to sell them they would see me as a business trader, wouldn't they?



Georgina

Is it the case then that by selling off your surplus knickers on eBay one fears being hunted down and found out by the Taxman but by selling the same item at the weekend carboot when the Taxman prefers to have a lay-in before his Sunday roast small sellers who are unregisterred will feel much more secure to sell? Doesn't that represent an anomoly in law enforcement and policy priorities? Are carboot sales tax exempt for business sellers, and should they be? Should authorities turn the other way becasue carboot sales are a tradition and so many neighbourhoods have residents that use carboots to top off their household income to stay above water financially. Could it be that huge chain store conglomerates hate eBay sellers more than carboot operators? Why shouldn't everything that is very similar be enforced equally?
Surely everyone must obey the law regardless of what they think of it. Equally we should all consider the law in greater detail to better understand the intricacies of the society to which the law applies, and the lawmakers and their friends who legislate, so that we can make decisions better for ourselves and the country next time we choose members of parliament.
If certain laws are enforced disproportionately at the detriment of certain people or 'businesses' in society, that is significant and impacts the financial wellbeing of those people - as well as, arguably, the integrity of the law itself.

soolin

We have no way of knowing though where or how the tax man gets info. I am quite sure that selling items off a car boot on a regular basis would attract as many jealous people reporting you as selling those same items on ebay. AS we have discussed previously it is suspected that HMRC rely heavily on anonymous reports.

However, regardless of what gets reported and what does not it is a poor argument to suggest that registering should be dependent on whether the system is fair or not. Life isn't fair, some of us will get caught whether on ebay or elsewhere, and some of us will not, that's life.

The rules are clear there is no grey area.

If the system itself is at fault then that is an entirely different argument and that is a matter maybe for making sure we vote in politicians or councillors who are prepared to come up with radical ideas to catch all benefit and tax cheats.

rose_sparky

I would have thought the first port of call was tying up the people who receive benefits and also sell big time on ebay.

I've seen them in my own Post Office.

freddysmith

Is it possible to end up in prison for not paying tax from Ebay trading ?

soolin

freddysmith wrote: »

Is it possible to end up in prison for not paying tax on Ebay profits ?

I think technically yes as fraud is a serious offence and they certainly threaten it for benefit fraud. In reality though I would think it very unlikely unless you are in the same league of non disclosure as Lester Piggott who if I remember correctly originally got 3 years?