John B54

Thank you for your reply. However, I am not trading, simply disposing of surplus possessions. As I stated, the vast majority of items will be sold at a loss. Surely I cannot be liable for tax on such sales?

I have an ebay account used primarily to dispose of surplus household, diy, and other personal items (invariably for less than we paid for them), along with sales of similar items on behalf of family and friends who don't use ebay, and stuff we inherited from my late parents (proceeds split with my siblings). The probability is that sales from my account will exceed £1000 for the current and next couple of tax years. This is largely because we are selling a lot of items we have bought over the years for our (drawn-out!) house renovation but ultimately didn’t use, and because we plan to downsize in the near future. Unfortunately, as none of it was bought with the intention of selling, I have very few receipts. What I want to ascertain is whether the £1000 annual tax-free limit relates to profit or simply the total value of sales? I hope it is not the latter, as it would seem very unfair to have to pay tax on the proceeds from selling things bought new and upon which we are effectively making a loss.

Several years ago, I received free shares under a demutualisation. I bought further shares under an initial offering and I subscribed to the DRIP scheme so that all my dividends were reinvested. I declared my dividend earnings each year on my SA return. I have now decided to sell the shares before the CGT allowance is reduced again next April. The current share price is substantially lower than the initial block purchase price and also lower than many of subsequent DRIP purchases. I wondered if there is an online calculator available which would simplify the calculation, or at least a formula which I can apply to my figures to determine CGT liability? TIA.