No tax changes for online sellers

Peo­ple sell­ing unwant­ed items online can con­tin­ue to do so with­out any new tax oblig­a­tions, HMRC has con­firmed.

The reminder comes as online plat­forms start shar­ing sales data with HMRC from Jan­u­ary 2025 – a new process that, when announced last year, gen­er­at­ed inac­cu­rate claims that a new tax was being intro­duced.

But whether sell­ing last year’s fes­tive jumper, get­ting some mon­ey back for a child’s out­grown baby clothes, or qui­et­ly offload­ing an unwant­ed Christ­mas present or two – absolute­ly noth­ing has changed for online sell­ers.

The new report­ing require­ments for dig­i­tal plat­forms came into effect at the start of 2024. HMRC says that it is not a new tax and whether peo­ple are sell­ing per­son­al items on eBay, rent­ing homes out on Airbnb or deliv­er­ing take­aways through Just Eat – no tax rules have changed. 

Those who sold at least 30 items or earned rough­ly £1,700 or pro­vid­ed a paid-for ser­vice, on a web­site or app in 2024 will be con­tact­ed by the dig­i­tal plat­form in Jan­u­ary to say their sales data and some per­son­al infor­ma­tion will be sent to HMRC due to new legal oblig­a­tions.

Angela Mac­Don­ald, HMR­C’s Sec­ond Per­ma­nent Sec­re­tary and Deputy Chief Exec­u­tive Offi­cer, said:

‘We can­not be clear­er – if you are not trad­ing and just occa­sion­al­ly sell unwant­ed items online – there is no tax due.

‘As has always been the case, some peo­ple who are trad­ing through web­sites or sell­ing ser­vices online may need to be pay­ing tax and reg­is­ter­ing for self assess­ment.’

Inter­net link: HMRC press release