HMRC targets Etsy, eBay and Gumtree sellers

[Osem]

Originally Posted by denphone

So if l decide to sell some of my prized DVD collection l am fine then Hugh?.

Selling your personal goods isn't running a business. Trading buying/selling DVDs would be.

Originally Posted by denphone

So if l decide to sell some of my prized DVD collection l am fine then Hugh?.

From the link I posted earlier

“If you are selling personal items on an ad hoc basis, such as unwanted clothes or your old lawnmower, you wouldn’t usually need to pay income tax,” he said.

“But if you are selling items on a repetitive basis, or buying or modifying items to sell at a profit for example, that could be classed as trading and you would be expected to pay tax.”

So yes, you should be OK.....

[denphone]

Thanks for that lads as if he do decide to sell 30/40 of my DVD's at least there is nothing to worry about.

[Osem]

Originally Posted by denphone

Thanks for that lads as if he do decide to sell 30/40 of my DVD's at least there is nothing to worry about.

The only thing you'll need to worry about is our 'commission'...

Wondering how this will apply to all those businesses being run through Ebay out of China..

[arcimedes]

Originally Posted by Maggy J

Wondering how this will apply to all those businesses being run through Ebay out of China..

That's going to depend where the business is operating from. China or the UK. If the UK HMRC will be interested. Although you will find that its a bit more complicated than that.

[Gary L]

How long before the DWP get in on it and class it as income/earnings.

they could deduct say 50p in the pound at the end of every financial year.
but as they'll have access to your accounts you don't need to do any adding up. they'll do it for you.

[mrmistoffelees]

Originally Posted by Osem

You have no idea how 'little' these people are. Those who evade their tax certainly aren't in this together.

I'm a damn site sure than they are not as large as the massive corporations who are avoiding paying their fair share as well as non doms etc.

Shame they don't make as much effort going after them, after all how many successful prosecutions were there in the last parliamentary term ?

The answer by the way, is 1

[Osem]

Originally Posted by mrmistoffelees

I'm a damn site sure than they are not as large as the massive corporations who are avoiding paying their fair share as well as non doms etc.

Shame they don't make as much effort going after them, after all how many successful prosecutions were there in the last parliamentary term ?

The answer by the way, is 1

You're not serious are you? I take it you also believe the police should leave muggers and burglars alone in order to concentrate all their efforts on bigger fish eh...

HMG, HMRC and rafts of lawyers have been working very hard to deal with evasion and aggressive avoidance. That's not to say that more can't/shouldn't/won't be done and indeed HMRC has only just announced they're effectively giving up on fines for late returns etc. to concentrate on more important matters. Odd that, when they're only interested in chasing the little guys according to you.

Many large and aggressive avoidance schemes have been closed down and £billions of tax reclaimed so to claim they're doing very little is nonsense. The truth is, however, that by the nature of these complex schemes and companies which base their affairs offshore, for example, is that the rules are incredibly complex and it's extremely difficult to do anything about them without international agreements.

The problem isn't the will to go after these people/schemes etc. it's the complexity of the rules (both UK and internationally) which allow all sorts of means by which to exploit them.

Only days ago this was announced:

http://www.professionaladviser.com/p...n-hmrcs-sights

and there have been numerous other examples of schemes used by the wealthy to unfairly avoid tax.

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/hmrc-recove...odgers-1474061

HM Revenue & Customs has managed to recover £3.65bn in owed revenue as it clamps down on UK tax evaders.

HMRC's top investigators managed to claw back the extra money thanks to increased scrutiny of tax avoidance schemes, tax evasion and fraud.

Law firm Pinsent Masons found that HMRC's Special Investigations team had the most successful year to date: lost taxes were up by almost a quarter on 2012/13's recovered income of £2.97bn ($4.7bn, €3.8bn).

The takings constitute a tenth of the predicted £34bn tax gap thought to be affecting the UK.

Paul Noble, tax director at Pinsent Masons, said: "These figures should be a massive jolt to anyone with undisclosed or outstanding tax liabilities that have given them significant savings. HMRC has been recruiting and training heavily in order to increase the activity of its specialist investigations team. That new capacity is now clearly on-stream.

Clearly those who've been on the receiving end don't think HMRC is doing nothing:


http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/80219afa-a...#ixzz3bo0sVi5s

Investors in several commercial property ventures deemed to have misused generous tax reliefs now face demands to repay large sums to the government.

In the latest crackdown on tax avoidance, members of at least three partnerships that took advantage of the government-sponsored Business Premises Renovation Allowances (BPRA) scheme have now been issued with accelerated payment demands to repay tax relief claimed on their investments.

http://www.accountancyage.com/aa/new...-gbp24bn-yield

AN HM REVENUE & CUSTOMS CRACKDOWN on tax avoidance and evasion has brought in an additional £23.9bn to the public purse.

The haul marks HMRC's highest since records began, which it said is a result of its investigations.

[mrmistoffelees]

Originally Posted by Osem

You're not serious are you? I take it you also believe the police should leave muggers and burglars alone in order to concentrate all their efforts on bigger fish eh...

HMG, HMRC and rafts of lawyers have been working very hard to deal with evasion and aggressive avoidance. That's not to say that more can't/shouldn't/won't be done and indeed HMRC has only just announced they're effectively giving up on fines for late returns etc. to concentrate on more important matters. Odd that, when they're only interested in chasing the little guys according to you.

Many large and aggressive avoidance schemes have been closed down and £billions of tax reclaimed so to claim they're doing very little is nonsense. The truth is, however, that by the nature of these complex schemes and companies which base their affairs offshore, for example, is that the rules are incredibly complex and it's extremely difficult to do anything about them without international agreements.

They made one successful prosecution in the last parliamentary term. If that's not a fairly nailed on description of the term 'very little' then I'm unsure what is.

So the rules are complex and difficult? Well, change them then? The ones that can be changed that is. (I think this is starting to be done now but it shouldn't have taken as long as it has)

So the late tax fines are scrapped, well whoop dee Mod Edit,please don't swear do Basil. I'm sure that will be of significant value to people as they find the wages aren't meeting their ever expanding costs.


And to be honest, if the police said I'm sorry sir we don't have the resources to investigate the fact you were burgled as we're concentrating on a major murder enquiry I'd be cross as hell but it's understandable.

The very simple fact of this whole entire argument is unfortunately that regardless of which bunch of misfits hold power, they will always serve the needs of big business first rather than the people who entrusted them into office.

[banjo]

Originally Posted by Gary L

i think the government should have all our Ebay, Gumtree and Bargain Pages account details.
just incase we unknowingly have too much money. and it'll be handy for them to be monitoring us so we don't have to worry about anything.

we should also tax the air.

They have looked at taxing air by fitting us all with a gas mask type device that taxes the volume of this luxury

[Osem]

Originally Posted by mrmistoffelees

They made one successful prosecution in the last parliamentary term. If that's not a fairly nailed on description of the term 'very little' then I'm unsure what is.

So the rules are complex and difficult? Well, change them then? The ones that can be changed that is. (I think this is starting to be done now but it shouldn't have taken as long as it has)

So the late tax fines are scrapped, well whoop dee f**ing do Basil. I'm sure that will be of significant value to people as they find the wages aren't meeting their ever expanding costs.


And to be honest, if the police said I'm sorry sir we don't have the resources to investigate the fact you were burgled as we're concentrating on a major murder enquiry I'd be cross as hell but it's understandable.

The very simple fact of this whole entire argument is unfortunately that regardless of which bunch of misfits hold power, they will always serve the needs of big business first rather than the people who entrusted them into office.

Nobody's saying enough's been done or that still more couldn't be done. What I'm taking issue with is your original we're all in this together' assertion which was that they always go 'after' the little guys and if only they spent as much time going after big business etc. which doesn't hold water. I didn't claim abolishing the fines was a major thing or on the same scale - just pointed out that it contradicted your claim they always go for the small guys.

HMRC and the govt. don't determine prosecutions or interpret laws, courts do and often in ways which Govts. don't appreciate and cause them plenty of embarrassment. I dare say HMRC would welcome simpler national/international tax rules and stricter laws with harsher penalties but 'changing' them isn't as simple as you seem to think. The fact remains that they're expending a good deal of effort chasing the big fish and to claim otherwise is nonsense.

Originally Posted by mrmistoffelees

They made one successful prosecution in the last parliamentary term. If that's not a fairly nailed on description of the term 'very little' then I'm unsure what is.

.

I think you need to re check your facts

The number of criminal prosecutions for tax evasion more than doubled in the UK during the last tax year, amid claims that the exchequer has increased its hit-rate by targeting "small time" offenders suspected of defrauding the taxpayer.
HM Revenue & Customs successfully prosecuted 617 people for tax evasion during 2012/13, up from 302 in 2011/12, according to figures obtained by the law firm Pinsent Masons. The figures were well in excess of HMRC's target of 565 prosecutions for the year, but come after missing what critics said was an artificially low target of 365 in 2011/12.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/...-increase-hmrc


In 1 year alone there where considerably more successful prosecutions than 1

[mrmistoffelees]

Originally Posted by martyh

I think you need to re check your facts



http://www.theguardian.com/business/...-increase-hmrc


In 1 year alone there where considerably more successful prosecutions than 1

I was referring (obviously I thought but hey ho) to large corporate scale tax avoidance that article appears to imply it's targeted small scale / time avoiders I've only quickly scanned the article however so happy to be corrected

[Osem]

So far as avoidance goes, I'd have thought prosecutions are always going to be more problematic than just securing the repayment of tax owed because the boundaries between what's acceptable avoidance and what isn't (i.e. what's legal and not) have to be tested before any scheme can be declared illegal. To be successfully prosecuted, I think there'd need to be proof that those involved in schemes which have been judged to be illegal after the event were fully aware of the illegality beforehand.