Over the last couple of years I started selling ebooks on ebay + built it up to earning up to �400/ month profit. Not been doing it for a couple of months but want to start up again + open an ebay shop. I've now realised I need to declare this with HMRC as 2nd income (I have a regular job as well). Question is, if I do this and give them a start date for the business as now, will they just accept that or do they actually look into how long you have been trading as i've been doing it - on and off - for a couple of years and I know you're supposed to register within 3 months but do they actually check. Help!
If you tell HMRC that you have just started trading and then submit accounts that show that your turnover started at a high enough level to generate �400 a month profit they might well smell a rat. I'd come clean if I were you.