HMRC rolls out ‘side hustle tax’ for online sellers on eBay

[Cobra]

Before Covid I very much used cash for incidental smaller spends i.e. carried say £30-50 but always used the CC on the likes of the weekly shop or bigger discretionary spends e.g. meal out with the family. Post Covid I rarely have cash but do keep a tenner in my wallet for emergencies.

TBH, that's pretty much what I do now, as well.

 

[Mr Bump]

And you know this 100% for sure, how? Just curious that you can be so emphatic with saying "all"

because i am not stupid and naive

because when rich people fill there car up they go and withdraw cash from the ATM?

where does that £150 come from?

 

[Box Brownie]

because i am not stupid and naive

because when rich people fill there car up they go and withdraw cash from the ATM?

where does that £150 come from?

Stupidity and/or naivety does not come in to it!

I have no idea why some folk carry a lot of cash or why they rely on it, more so than others.

Not all of those that work in the cash economy are in the 'black economy' or are there reliable, publicly available, figures to show that all such cash transacted work are 100% of the values not declared?

I am not saying you are wrong but in all matters there are grey areas where not all that meets the eye is simply explained i.e. is there not more to what you observe than meets the eye?

PS I doubt many "rich people" would withdraw cash to pay for fuel. The only millionaire I knew of never carried cash ........and frankly relied others to lend him some when he needed to make small cash purchase........that was one reason for why he became a millionaire

 

[gman]

Point taken on both areas but as the saying goes "to assume makes an ass out you and & me"

Such a thought occurred to me but I can only surmise that unless "he" makes a move that draws attention.......there needs to be a system (automated?) of checks to reveal the irregular income to spend ratio? Not enough civil servants to do it all manually.

Lots of expats abroad for financial reasons.

Not helped by too few civil servants with experience & knowledge to work on individual case files

AFAIK & IIRC
It was getting more and more costly in business account bank charges to 'bank' cash (and cheques) with drive to towards closing branches and going digital.

From what I believe, the HMRC Connect system taps into a variety of databases from bank accounts to insurance records and even online shopping platforms using AI. I'm not sure how advanced it is though.

My guess is that if Mr Dealer doesn't bank his cash income, but buys an £80k car (even if done so with cash), then the system will be able to see that he has vehicle tax for that expensive car, possibly insurance, DVLA records etc. It could then raise a red flag as to where the money came from to buy it when there's no corresponding records in his bank account.

Same for property etc. I suppose he would have to find some way to wash the money and get it into a bank account. Owning and running legitimate businesses would perhaps be the most common from my own experiences.

 

[Box Brownie]

From what I believe, the HMRC Connect system taps into a variety of databases from bank accounts to insurance records and even online shopping platforms using AI. I'm not sure how advanced it is though.

My guess is that if Mr Dealer doesn't bank his cash income, but buys an £80k car (even if done so with cash), then the system will be able to see that he has vehicle tax for that expensive car, possibly insurance, DVLA records etc. It could then raise a red flag as to where the money came from to buy it when there's no corresponding records in his bank account.

Same for property etc. I suppose he would have to find some way to wash the money and get it into a bank account. Owning and running legitimate businesses would perhaps be the most common from my own experiences.

One can but hope so!

 

[Mr Bump]

Any ebay users get the following email and mega deal offer sent out

apparently its due to a dip in ebay revenue regarding the HMRC announcement

no fees for two whole months

 

[phinix]

Any ebay users get the following email and mega deal offer sent out

apparently its due to a dip in ebay revenue regarding the HMRC announcement

no fees for two whole months
View attachment 414996

Yeah, I think more people will do what I'm gonna do - killing my over 600 positive feedback account

I used it to sell all the stuff I don't need, clearing up my attic etc, or just sell photo equipment I dont need. However imagine selling few lens and a body, raised my sale to £5K for example in few months, that for them is another target to check - I'm not doing it for profit, just selling used items and buying another - we all do it, especially lens. How the hell they want to me to prove it? I dont keep receipts from 5 years, or cannot confirm all used items I bought in the past. There is no way to confirm values of those.
So looks like ebay is dead for me now. I'm closing my account, not gonna f**ing feed stupid HMRC, I'm not getting any profit from selling old stuff, so not gonna pay taxes for that...

 

[Mr Bump]

Yeah, I think more people will do what I'm gonna do - killing my over 600 positive feedback account

I used it to sell all the stuff I don't need, clearing up my attic etc, or just sell photo equipment I dont need. However imagine selling few lens and a body, raised my sale to £5K for example in few months, that for them is another target to check - I'm not doing it for profit, just selling used items and buying another - we all do it, especially lens. How the hell they want to me to prove it? I dont keep receipts from 5 years, or cannot confirm all used items I bought in the past. There is no way to confirm values of those.
So looks like ebay is dead for me now. I'm closing my account, not gonna f**ing feed stupid HMRC, I'm not getting any profit from selling old stuff, so not gonna pay taxes for that...

its not ebay that is dead to be fair its all about HMRC taxing people who are running little side businesses if you are just clearing out household items then you are sorted
To be fair though 5k of camera stuff is a lot and you can't blame it if they start asking questions about selling things like that?

 

[phinix]

its not ebay that is dead to be fair its all about HMRC taxing people who are running little side businesses if you are just clearing out household items then you are sorted
To be fair though 5k of camera stuff is a lot and you can't blame it if they start asking questions about selling things like that?

ebay is dead, if they gonna check people like me who sells old stuff, not side business or anything like that.
£5k is not much, I sold 4 lens and a a7c body and that was it. Once, not 10 of those, if you know what I mean.
So for me it is dead, as their £1000 limit per year is not acceptable...

 

[Cobra]

Maybe there is a plus side to all this,
your average Joe, selling stuff at a reasonable price, just like it was all those years ago,
when it was more like a car boot sale.

And not people trying to make a fast buck.

 

[Mr Bump]

ebay is dead, if they gonna check people like me who sells old stuff, not side business or anything like that.
£5k is not much, I sold 4 lens and a a7c body and that was it. Once, not 10 of those, if you know what I mean.
So for me it is dead, as their £1000 limit per year is not acceptable...

yeah bit a 5k a year sale isn't average is it? you are probably 0.1% of the average person so to be fair thats how much business ebay may lose?
maybe just sell your stuff to MBP or whatever? or even on the TP sales pages?

 

[phinix]

yeah bit a 5k a year sale isn't average is it? you are probably 0.1% of the average person so to be fair thats how much business ebay may lose?
maybe just sell your stuff to MBP or whatever? or even on the TP sales pages?

I sold everything I had for Sony and bought Nikon. Got nothing else to sell, but occasional bits and pieces, not photography related I mean.