HMRC hands two-week warning to anyone selling on Vinted, eBay, Depop or Etsy
HMRC have issued a two-week warning to anybody who sells on Vinted and other secondhand sites. UK households must pay any tax due by 31 January, or pay a fine, the Labour Party government's tax department has warned.
The taxman says that more than 7.4 million people have already filed for the 2023 to 2024 tax year, but there are still millions of people who haven’t yet completed their returns. If you're selling items online, you need to have made over £1,000 in the space of one tax year, and you must have been selling for profit, otherwise known as trading.
The rules have changed this year, meaning platforms like Vinted or eBay must alert HMRC about sellers who make more than 30 transactions in a year, or who sell goods worth more than £1,700. You may need to file a return if you are newly self-employed and earned a gross income of more than £1,000 in the tax year.
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Other reasonbs may be if you earned below £1,000 but want to pay Class 2 National Insurance Contributions voluntarily to protect your state pension or access to other benefits, are a new partner in a business partnership or have received any untaxed income over £2,500.
Other reasons are if you receive Child Benefit payments and need to pay the High Income Child Benefit Charge because you or your partner earned more than £50,000. If you used to self-assess but think you don’t need to file anymore, for instance because you’re now working full time for an employer, you need to let HMRC know using the online form.
A Vinted spokesperson said: "Reporting members’ details to the authorities does not necessarily lead to taxation. Taxation is a separate matter that doesn't depend on HMRC reporting." They added: "HMRC requires Vinted to collect information from members who meet the criteria mentioned above, regardless of whether or not their earnings are taxable."