Selling personal possessions on Ebay
Personal possessions are items that belong to you for your own use. They could be family or household goods. You may have bought them or received them as a gift that was unwanted.
Personal possessions might include things like:
- Clothing
- Toiletries
- Toys and books
- Games and jigsaws
- Ornaments, lamps and other household items and furniture
- Jewellery
- Ipads, devices and phones
So when do you need to tell HMRC
You’re clearing out your home or a family member’s house and decide to sell a variety of unwanted items using online marketplaces. If none of the items you sell are worth more than £6,000 it is unlikely that you would need to tell HMRC about this income or pay any tax, no matter how many items you sell. This would pass HMRC’s tests more easily if it was a one off and you were able to show that you were possibly clearing a home or moving house or doing it for a downsizing reason for example.
But selling one item for say £7,000 may need a deeper look.
HMRC may consider you are trading if you have bought goods intending to sell for a profit and, quite common these days, you have made something or upcycled furniture for resale, including items you make for a ‘hobby’. Whether Hmrc consider anything to be a hobby is a very lengthy and detailed blog on its own right so it would be easier to call us and have a chat to see whether you need to register as a self-employed sole trader and complete a tax return and if your sales have gone on in the past it is possible to quickly make a voluntary disclosure of any tax due going back the full extent of the years involved.
Call Andy on 07879 464577
Alex on 07538 418839
Lindsay on 07584 706664
Or email her on Lindsay@lhtax.co.uk