At which point should you register with HMRC as a business?

[aalexander]

I have a number of stealth Ebay and Paypal accounts, at the moment I have them all linked to my personal bank accounts.

I am buying and selling goods for a profit, but I am not registered with HMRC as a business. At what point should an ebay seller do this?
I have 5 accounts, which combined have a turnover of about £3000 per month. And profit about £800-1000 per month.

And how would it work, having money coming in from various different accounts and under different names and addresses?

[Jackery]

Originally Posted by aalexander

I have them all linked to my personal bank accounts.

My opinion is this is very foolish to do

You should legally register your business with hmrc within 3 months of starting your business

[rgking94]

If you're running stealth accounts or not it doesn't matter.

They are just the 'front' of your business. The 'sales men'.

They should all feedback to your genuine accounts to submit to HMRC.

You should declare you are running a business within 3 months. Don't hide from it or put it off to tomorrow, THEY WILL CATCH YOU, there's no 'stealth' with HMRC, it's high fines, high interest and possibly jail.

You've more than likely passed the 3 months, register, register for VAT if you have to, create nice cover letters on your reasons why you're registering late to try and avoid fines.

[rgking94]

HMRC don't really care about your eBay account or Paypal, your accounts to them are your BANKS. They can see your banks, they will audit them and if they see large amounts of money coming in without any declaration... well i wouldn't want to be you.

Let them know before they let you know!

Pay your taxes!

[oompaloompa]

what are the fines? eg. do they look at what you owe and charge you that...or double what you owe or what?

[rgking94]

Yes they can double the amount, i cant remember 100%. Check the HMRC website it's all there