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Re: HMRC reporting of 2024
 

I can tell you how , the reporting rules are the same everywhere but the devil (as always) has been hiding in details

EU sellers have a very low intra EU VAT threshold of just 10K while UK has about 100K , additionally EU wants all marketplaces worldwide to report to them while UK only wants info from marketplaces with UK representation

furthermore UK sellers can easily sell to other countries without being forced to register for VAT , in fact UK VAT threshold is completely meaningless for sales to any other country outside the UK

this means that the impact on EU sellers is going to be large since most of them will be liable for VAT unless they only sell within their own country or outside the EU and VAT is by far the most dangerous tax of all and this is what the EU is after with this legislation since the number of sellers who owe VAT will be a lot larger than before 2021

back to your question: UK as a member of the EU would have never agreed to such a low VAT threshold causing massive problems to local businesses with increased taxes and increased expenses of VAT reporting

Re: HMRC reporting of 2024
 

UK VAT threshold is being upped from 85k to 90k this year I believe

Re: HMRC reporting of 2024
 

convert into EUR in order to compare

Re: HMRC reporting of 2024
 

I wonder how many of the clothing sellers who are being drawn over from other selling platforms with no selling fees, will do a self assessment after they do more than £1,000 in sales. I hope they get thousands upon thousands so HMRC are overwhelmed with policing the situation.

Re: HMRC reporting of 2024
 

I have the same name as my dad. I used his name to open my eBay account and used his passport when it came to them asking ID.

Bank statements , Tax/VAT registration are all mine and i've been trading absolutely fine for 2 years.

My worry is, will eBay get any info back from HMRC when i put in my National Insurance number? Basically, will putting my NI number in create any kind of mismatch between eBay/HMRC?

Re: HMRC reporting of 2024
 

Still early days, nobody knows. You'll have to try it and report back to us.

Re: HMRC reporting of 2024
 

The National Insurance Number requests have started now....

Re: HMRC reporting of 2024
 

For the last 2 weeks i’ve had them on 8 accounts (Stealth) just input letters and number in the correct sequence and no issues so far however stating that as many have said on this thread its early days

Re: HMRC reporting of 2024
 

HMRC won't as far as I have ever read feed anything back to ebay

It's a one way information share

Re: HMRC reporting of 2024
 

I don't see how they can - HMRC won't risk giving ebay this type of sensitive information especially in the bulk amounts that would be needed; therefore unless HMRC at some flag back to ebay that the details don't match then it will end up down a dead end; and if they did I would assume it would take them years to

Re: HMRC reporting of 2024
 

I'd be more worried about HMRC. If they have your bank details they can find out who you are.

Re: HMRC reporting of 2024
 

HMRC have always had this power on eBay to request the bank details. Nothing new there.

Re: HMRC reporting of 2024
 

Yeah, but now they are being given everyone's data. Lot different to them requesting it. If it's all automated it won't take much work to see everyone's turnover and VAT avoidance.

Re: HMRC reporting of 2024
 

Only if they connect multiple accounts together which is easier said than done in reality.

eBay has for a very long time needed a VAT number on sales on a single account over the limit.

Issue will be if they start to link lots of accounts to one person and then add it all together for VAT but VAT runs on a per business basis so just need to register each separately and stay under the limits then its not an issue

Re: HMRC reporting of 2024
 

What about when stealth details are used? They will have no record the person exists. The National Insurance Number will be the unique identifier.
They won't be registered with HMRC and if they have used a high street bank they can easily find out who the accounts belong to.

Not saying any of this will happen, as we don't know, but it could.

Re: HMRC reporting of 2024
 

Yep it could all happen but IMO just like for the last 15 odd years so long as you can show tax is paid HMRC are not that bothered.

People do trade under different names. That is OK - so long as the tax gets paid and you can show that then that will keep HMRC happy

This is my opinion and not legal advise lol but it is how I see it

Re: HMRC reporting of 2024
 

The bank account is the key as that would link back to the same person.

Re: HMRC reporting of 2024
 

I have 8 stealths all different bank account numbers however further investigation would lead back to my registered address.

Time to cut and run for the hills

Re: HMRC reporting of 2024
 

The key here is to be registered with HMRC and paying your taxes.

They will be after those that aren't filing tax returns first and foremost.

As A.I keeps getting better and so does their softwares, they will start tallying up tax returns with the income online platforms are reporting. But that will require a real person to take a look to confirm everything. They will no doubt be hiring more tax agents for this specific job role if it appears the problem is significant enough to be worthwhile. If you're a big time tax dodger you will be having sleepless nights.

Re: HMRC reporting of 2024
 

I would assume given they are only employing 24 extra people that they are relying on the AI to do all the work and fire out letters to scare people into paying up.
Which is fine, end of the day if you make it you should pay the tax on it.

I have had to phone HMRC a few times.. current wait times never short of 45 minutes.. you add this new platform tax accrual into the mix and you can triple that time at least.

Re: HMRC reporting of 2024
 

Might be time to make all eight accounts into separate businesses ventures if not already ...

Re: HMRC reporting of 2024
 

morning chuckles :clap:

Re: HMRC reporting of 2024
 

Again you don't know that. Know of us know anything yet. It's pure guesswork.

It wouldn't even take a real person, could all be automated easily.

Again, we don't know what will happen

Re: HMRC reporting of 2024
 

I am sure that VAT and large turnovers will be the main target , HMRC have had access to ebay and amazon details for years by the way

Re: HMRC reporting of 2024
 

No they haven't... bro the amount of misinformation you give put bud really isn't helpful

They can request the details from ebay. They don't have automatic access.

Re: HMRC reporting of 2024
 

Ufcourse, it's all speculation because none of us know.

I personally think when it comes to prosecution just relying on software alone won't cut it. A real person needs to go over everything.

Re: HMRC reporting of 2024
 

Yes, but only if someone employed by HMRC requested it with proper documentation.

Now it's the complete opposite, all online platforms will be drip feeding HMRC's Ai machine the data. When it flashes red an agent takes a look. All the automated bits will be the calculations / cross referencing / brown envelopes with pay up letters going out.

Best thing to do is if you're working full time or on benefits and aren't registered as self employed, to do that now. As soon as they see you got money coming in online but haven't declared the income it's an automatic red card.

Re: HMRC reporting of 2024
 

there is no point to send letters to tens if not hundreds of thousands of people , they just take the large ones and it will be more money than all the small ones combined , it is not enough to have the data as turnover itself does not allow to send a bill unless it is big enough

and yes HMRC have had access for a long time , it was not automated but there were no obstacles to get data of anyone selling on ebay

Re: HMRC reporting of 2024
 

I disagree, their automated system doesn't need to work out exact costings owed as long as its above £1000 (or £1700) then a generic letter will be sent out to all advising to declare their tax owed through ebay sales.

Re: HMRC reporting of 2024
 

That is correct, in the end they are generic messages to all those who exceed the indicated amount.

Re: HMRC reporting of 2024
 

I haven't been on this forum in a while. With the HMRC reporting. Has anything like this ever been proposed in the past only for it to either simmer down or not happen at all? Going into 2025 how many of you are changing your methods and how many are risking it? What will happen with any stores that have been untaxed for years? Will they chase everything from the beginning and if not what can we expect. Thanks

Re: HMRC reporting of 2024
 

ebay will send HMRC the very bare minimum that they have too and probably on sound advice from their own legal teams

Re: HMRC reporting of 2024
 

It's legislation now.

Loads of info on what people think will happen on this forum. Nobody knows for sure.

Re: HMRC reporting of 2024
 

What are you plans going forward? Are you risking it

Re: HMRC reporting of 2024
 

No, I have accounts in my real details.

It needs to be plans for now, as the data has been captured from 1st January this year.

Re: HMRC reporting of 2024
 

I wouldn't - I have closed most of my stealth accounts down and will convert a few to real name/addresses etc and then disclose the correct NI number to ebay when asked.

Re: HMRC reporting of 2024
 

I have one real account which is all legit with taxes paid for. Will they be able to find out who owns the stealth accounts and request for taxes to be paid or will it merely stop the account from selling further?

Re: HMRC reporting of 2024
 

Have a read of these threads dude. We have talked about this to death. Of course HMRC can find out who an account belongs to through the bank account used.

Re: HMRC reporting of 2024
 

It all depends on what NI number you (eventually) input for the stealth account.

Then it requires them to select that NI number for investigation.

What we don't know is if eBay are required to also provide the bank account details with their mandatory 2025 submissions. My guess is they won't be.

If not and HMRC really wanted to find out who is behind an account then they always have the courts to fall back to to require ebay to relaease all information they hold on any given seller.

In reality, to manage the insane amount of data the new requirements are going to provide HMRC with would require a hell of a lot of manpower to target even a tiny fraction of sellers. Lets not forget, this doesn't just apply to ebay, its Amazon, etsy, Vinted, employment agencies, airBnB, Deliveroo....the list is massive.

Even cherrypicking some obvious big money targets across the whole employment marketplace will give them a mountain of work.

All that said, it is what it is, only you can decide how you manage the account and the perceived risk of investigation.

Re: HMRC reporting of 2024
 

Thanks for the reply. I agree to everything you've said as a lot of people have said the same thing in terms of the manpower to cherry pick each individual. The question is HMRC could have done this for the past 20 plus years. Why now?

I actually know someone who works for HMRC, not very well but over a year ago I asked him about people who haven't paid their tax. He told me they will come up with excuses about how it's affecting their mental health or that they have mental health. With that the tax was struck off! I didn't fully understand or go into more detail about what he meant. To me it sounds like there are ways of still getting around it or that HMRC may still have a lax attitude towards some situations.

I have read through most of the messages in the post and it seems like it's over for most people. I am hoping that nothing comes of it as it will affect a lot of peoples lives