Anyone who has earned more than £1,000 from selling their old items in the tax year 2023-24 from these kinds of platforms or a side-hustle may need to pay tax on it.
If you’re making items yourself – say, baking or knitting – it’s a bit different. You’re now running a (potentially very) small business, and you can factor in your materials and other costs.
You still might not owe tax, depending on how much you earn, but you should fill out a self-assessment tax return anyway to find out. The same goes if you’re making money from providing services such as delivery driving.
Recommended reading:
Online platforms collect data from all sellers and automatically send this to HMRC but only if you earn more than the equivalent of €2,000 (currently around £1,700).
HMRC warned on January 6 that 5.4 million people were still yet to file their self-assessment tax return. Anyone who still need to act can submit their tax returns and pay any tax owed online at GOV.UK.
Anyone who needs to file a tax return and doesn’t do so by January 31 can be fined £100.
This increases to fines of £10 a day after three months, up to a maximum of £900. After six months, you’re charged 5% of tax owed or £300, whichever is greater – this is then repeated again after 12 months.
You must also pay any tax due by 31 January, or you’ll accrue 7.25% interest on any late tax payments.
After 30 days you’ll then also be fined an extra 5% of the unpaid tax, with this being repeated at six months and 12 months.
If you’re struggling to pay your tax bill and you owe less than £30,000, you may be able to set up a payment plan with HMRC, known as Time to Pay.