eBay & the Inland Revenue

[Rod Serling]

I need to know the definitive answer on this, and yes, i could call the tax offcie, but it would only flag up my case, which i don't want

Like a lot of people, i do a fair bit of ebay selling. it's my own stuff, CDs, records, programmes, etc that i have accumulated over the years and i want rid.

i understand eBay/tax office look at anything (sales) over �500 per month, which i could easily fall foul of due the high value of some of my stuff, but i have never bought it to trade, it is my own personal collection.

i have a job, for which i am taxed, so i pay my dues like i should

please can somene tell me the tax position, etc, and put me out of (or into) my misery!

[Loosehead]

You are liable if you are buying and selling at a profit. That income would form part of you total income for tax purposes. If you are just selling chattells that you own already, presumabaly in most case you are not making a profit anyway, then there is no liability. The amount of turnover is irrelevant but if it is high and sustained that may well induce the revenue to examine you more closely. I mean if you are selling �500 worth a month every month then the revenue could reasonably conclude that you are buying the stuff from somewhere to sell.

[dancecaller]

If it's stuff you've bought for yourself and used then even if you made a profit it would be capital gains tax, and there's a large annaul allowance before that comes in.

[kags]

If you sell something that you did not purchase specifically to sell at profit (ie your own possession), and it is an item with a life expectancy of less than 50 years, then provided the proceeds are less than �6000 there are no Capital Gains Tax implications, even if you do make a profit.

As Loosehead has said, if you are buying things to sell, you would be chargeable to income tax on the profits you make and it is these people that HMRC are looking to catch.

[scoobywow]

I am a powerseller on ebay uk, and also work for a major UK company - The answer is straight forward, you need to register as self-employed if you are selling on ebay to make a profit whether that is 1p or millions of pounds, the tax you owe which is around 25% of the profit you have made can be taken as tax from your main job. VAT is not applicable unless your turnover is more than �60,000, although you can register for VAT for under that amount. I am writing an ebook on this very subject if anyone is interested let me know.