timrud

Me and my mate are thinking of starting up our own EBay enterprise? We both work, so it will be a thing on the side.

Will the tax man be coming after us? I'm thinking of having a seperate bank account so it is easier to keep track of things, and stuff doesn't get muddled up with our own financial affairs.

I know these probably sound like stupid questions, but where is the line drawn between selling a few things and it actually being a business??

TIFF

I will tell you where i am--

Never going to work.................. Ebay is to big

And for that reason.....Im out!!!

timrud

The stock does not have to be sold on Ebay, just to outline the enterprise we are trying to start up.

I need to know where selling a few bits out of the garage turn into a tax liable outfit.

TIFF

As with anything....as soon as it becomes an income so to speak.......its a pretty dark area i think.

TN

Ebay and paypal have 2 accounts, personal and business, once you start selling a taxable amount you HAVE to upgrade to a business acount!

If your buying stuff to make a profit your a trader! and with paypal and ebay everything is documented and easily traceable! dont declare it and you will get caught

RANJ

HMRC via its helpline on 08454 915 4515.

timrud

exactly what I thought TN. I want to do everything by the book.

Surely there must be a few ebay traders on here?

I'm thinking open up a ebay store and a joint account at the bank. Do you have to estimate your own tax for the taxman??

TN

I did the ebay thing and had to upgrade to business but tbh I got fed up of the fees that I was comstantly paying to ebay and paypal along with the idiots who bid on the stuff with no intention of paying!

Unless you have 100's of listings at anyone time now ebay is a very hard place to earn a decent wedge from mate, the fees and idiots have killed it!

It dont help that as a seller you can only leave positive feedback but the buyer can leave negative! it means people will happily bid on stuff and then change their mind without any harm to their feedback

hamerish

if your already earning above 6k(or whatever it is atm) from your current job, then anything you outside of work is also taxable. obviously a couple of hundred here and there isnt going to be noticed ie boot sale, odd job. But an ebay business with regular income will be so the tax man will want to know about it.

If at first you dont declare the earnings and later on when the business is bigger and you do decide to tell them, you willl have a fair bit of explaining to do, a hefty fine and have to pay the back taxes most likely.

If you think you are going to make something of it then i would suggest informing them as soon as you make some any money. I would also suggest hiring an accountant, but obviously you wont do that until your earning decent money.

TN

tbh mate the best thing you can do is, as soon as you start to earn money, put some aside and dont touch it, every time you make profit keep putting some aside! then when you have to do your tax return you should have the money to cover it

timrud

Cheers fellas.

Might look at using other avenues for selling then.

timrud

My plan would be to never touch my share of the profit anyway, I just want a nice nest egg to build up.

TN

If its a joint venture then im not sure how the tax works if say your mate never pays a penny in tax can they come after you? never done a joint thing so unsure!

bigjim172000

iTrader: (1)

Not so true,

I only have 58 approx listings active in my shop but its a specialist market im in so the buyers are there. I started when there was approx only 3 pages of listing so i built a reputation up. People have jumped on my bandwagon now but the reputation keeps us going and we find most ebay customers also end up buying direct in future. So its cheap advertising.

TN

Very true, if its a specialist market your in then you do have a chance!

And you said it yourself, you started when ebay was very very small compared to what it is now!! you had chance to build a customer base before every tom dick and harry jumped onto the bandwagon

timrud

I think I will seek some professional advice, as I do not want to find us straddled with a huge surprise bill.

Thanks for everybodies input.

BLACKCOS

get a good accountant as most stuff is tax deductable. If your selling on there as i business its going to get taxed at some point.