eBay Traders – there’s no let up and no escape!

HMRC continue their trawl through the Internet to expose those people trading on eBay rather than people merely selling off their personal belongings.

Whilst it is very evident from a person’s eBay sales and purchase history to see exactly the level of income and expenditure, not everyone is trading.

Lindsay has had a great success in defending people who may be selling goods but do not fall into the somewhat ambiguous definition of a trade.

For example, have you inherited items and then decided to sell them either all at once or in a piecemeal fashion.

If you receive a letter, you will be given a choice of whether to enter into a ‘voluntary’ online disclosure or not – and Lindsay cannot recommend this process more highly. A voluntary disclosure (even though prompted by HMRC) is totally nonconfrontational and the only person you would have to deal with in the whole process from start to finish is Lindsay herself. She would gather the information, prepare your accounts, file the online disclosure together with a report for HMRC and all you have to do is pay the tax, interest, and penalties you. Penalties can by lower for those entering this type of arrangement.

Failure to tick the box and join the online system to tell HMRC about any tax you may owe, will mean HMRC come back and launch an investigation into you, which will definitely take longer and be more stressful.

Call Lindsay for more information on this if you are trading on eBay, or any other selling platform. It’s only a matter of time before other online selling platforms come under HMRC’s radar!