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Posted Sat, 11 Jan 2025 11:40:35 GMT by frudea
I'm a player of a trading card game. I buy lots of packs of cards, I keep the ones I want/need but recently started to sell my unwanted cards on ebay. I have a lot of these sort of bulk cards some of which go for as high as £100. I've sold almost 400 in the last year for just under £3k. In my mind, these are all me selling personal possessions - I play the game and I bought the cards to add to my collection. But I'm worried that because there are plenty of people that sell single cards as proper business I may fall foul when ebay reports to HMRC. I'm not really sure where I stand.
Posted Thu, 23 Jan 2025 11:00:46 GMT by HMRC Admin 1 Response

If you aren’t trading and just occasionally sell unwanted items online nothing has changed:

  • Please see our 4 December 2024 press release: No tax changes for online sellers | HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC)
  • We're asking online platforms to share information with us to ensure businesses operating via these platforms pay the correct amount of tax, and do not have an unfair tax advantage over high street and other traditional businesses.
  • This is an internationally agreed set of rules that have been implemented in the UK. The data provided by platform operators will be broken down by quarters helping sellers make use of the data.
  • Tax rules regarding selling of goods and services are unchanged. The same rules apply whether the goods or services are sold in person or through an online platform.
  • We’ve published specific guidance for those selling goods and services online:
  • We have also produced a useful mythbuster video on social media for people, which can be found here.
  • Whether income is taxable will depend upon the source and the specific charging provisions within the law. If the individual is just selling some unwanted items that have been lying around their home, it is unlikely that they will have to pay tax. In order to be liable to pay tax on the goods or services they sell, they either have to be trading or make a capital gain.
  • Depending on the items they sell and how much they sell them for, they may need to pay Capital Gains Tax. This applies to selling personal possessions where the item is worth more than £6,000.
  • An individual would have to consider whether the activities were sufficiently organised to be a trade. Where an individual is selling personal belongings, such as the contents of a loft or garage, it is unlikely to be trading income for tax purposes. However, someone is likely to be trading when they buy goods for resale or make goods with the intention of selling them for a profit.
  • Whether a trade is being conducted is ultimately a question of fact and individual circumstances should be considered and specialist advice sought if necessary.
  • If the income from trading is above £1,000, an individual will need to register for Self Assessment and declare this income in a tax return.
  • Most individuals have a personal allowance for the year of £12,570 which is the amount they can earn before they reach the threshold for paying any income tax. If the individual has no other income against which their personal allowances have been set, they can set unused personal allowances against this income to reduce the tax due.
  • Information on who needs to complete a return can be found online: Self Assessment tax returns: Who must send a tax return - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
  • Customers can use also our online checking tool at this link, to quickly assess whether they will need to complete a tax return.

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