UK eBay Stealth Account Upgraded to Business

[james_112233]

So every account will be required to provide a UTR from next year ?

[Hank]

Originally Posted by james_112233

So every account will be required to provide a UTR from next year ?

I do not know for UK resident businesses, I was trying to keep it relevant to OP. Clearly it doesn't apply to private sellers.

Someone put up a link some time ago which implied it would become a requirement given the change in legislation and it's been mentioned on Auctionbytes blog too. Maybe it would only apply to new businesses, older account could be grandfathered in, maybe they'll do it in stages like Amazon did, maybe they'll do nothing at all. Time will tell I guess.

One thing to recognise is Amazon have been doing it for years now following their run-in with HMRC, it shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone if ebay decided they now needed to follow suit.

And lets not forget we're not far away now from all selling platforms (Amazon already do it) sending sales figures to HMRC, business and private sellers alike, whether we like it or not. (barring a relatively small genuine occasional seller exemption)

I'm getting too long in the tooth now and I'm not comfortable with the idea of HMRC knocking on my door for undeclared income. If I was using, for example, a friends info or, got forbid, someones details I'd stolen, then I'd be trying to legitimise that account or ditching it before the new legislation kicks in. Some will carry on regardless and use the 'safety in numbers' argument. Not me.

[murdered_by_ebay]

Originally Posted by Hank

But crucially the do ask for info which is checked, like UTR.

Then there's the change in account dynamics, mandatory returns, addresses displayed etc. It's not as simply as you're implying to convert a private seller account t a stealth account and you aught to know that.

On the assumption they are based abroad and managed to get UTR (Limited Company option is out according to your earlier posts) then they will need to register for VAT. AFAIK bogus UTR's wont work.

IMO, a foreigner converting a UK private account to a stealth business ain't happening. My plan would be to start more private ones if that's worked before.

currently ebay do not ask to add UTR and I am 100% certain that if at some point they start asking to do so they will provide an option to change status back to private

this may not help everyone but there are lots of people who have a business account and are not a business

[murdered_by_ebay]

Originally Posted by james_112233

So every account will be required to provide a UTR from next year ?

it is unknown , it is however certain that ebay have been providing sales details to various tax authorities for years

I am not sure if they even need additional details for this because after MP implementation most people have already been identified

[Hank]

Originally Posted by murdered_by_ebay

currently ebay do not ask to add UTR and I am 100% certain that if at some point they start asking to do so they will provide an option to change status back to private

this may not help everyone but there are lots of people who have a business account and are not a business

Well there you go, I'm 100% certain they wouldn't.

Nobody would lose their buying privileges, as is the case at the moment when they enforce business upgrades, they'd simply say 'if you want to continue to sell on this account we need so additional information' in the same way Amazon did.

Lets not forget 99.999% of folk are entitled to a separate private account if they wish, no need to start messing with existing account conversions.

[murdered_by_ebay]

Originally Posted by Hank

Well there you go, I'm 100% certain they wouldn't.

Nobody would lose their buying privileges, as is the case at the moment when they enforce business upgrades, they'd simply say 'if you want to continue to sell on this account we need so additional information' in the same way Amazon did.

Lets not forget 99.999% of folk are entitled to a separate private account if they wish, no need to start messing with existing account conversions.

this problem may only arise if the new rules should make UTR mandatory , you know it is not right now? what amazon have been doing is voluntary , also many of their other limits are voluntary as well , for that reason ebay have not been asking to add and it is unlikely they will unless it should be required by law

[Hank]

Originally Posted by murdered_by_ebay

this problem may only arise if the new rules should make UTR mandatory , you know it is not right now? what amazon have been doing is voluntary , also many of their other limits are voluntary as well , for that reason ebay have not been asking to add and it is unlikely they will unless it should be required by law

Agreed. It's all very subjective and ebay seem to have avoided the attention which led to Amazon 'voluntary' cooperation.

It would be naïve of us not to assume that if the changes due for implementation weren't bad enough that there's not more to come.

It's all about control of us low level drones and worker bees, watch this space.....

[degsey69]

It seems that the UK will follow America’s lead all sales over $100 total gets reported to the IRS by a 1099 against your SSN and then you can wrestle with the IRS if they are personal sales or not, that’s why Biden wanted another 87,000 IRS agents so they could screw the little people for more tax.

[Emo12]

Just upgrade as sole trader they don’t ask for any info, just make sure you keep turn over below 80k because then they will ask for VAT number, one of the reasons I use multiple accounts