HMRC cracksdown on sellers on ‘side hustle’ platforms including Amazon and Ebay
- Thursday, January 4th, 2024
- Share this article:
Sellers on digital platforms including Ebay, Airbnb, Etsy, Amazon and Vinted are among those who could end up paying tax on their “side hustle” earnings.
Under a New Year tax clampdown sellers must share information with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), which will allow the tax authority to detect and tackle tax invasions.
Subscribe to Mobile Marketing Magazine
Click here to get the latest marketing news free in your inbox every Thursday
The move follows several tax changes at the start of the year, which include changes to the national insurance rate that employees pay.
The threshold for earnings from the online side hustles is set at more than £1,000 a year, above this, online sellers must register as self-employed and file a self-assessment tax return at the end of the financial year.
Online platforms will also be required to report seller information directly to HMRC, however, this will not be implemented until the end of January 2025.
The move will also include information such as tax ID, bank account details, alongside the amount and number of transactions made by sellers with sizeable trading activity.
Speaking on the move, an HMRC spokesperson said: “These new rules will support our work to help online sellers get their tax right first time. They will also help us detect any deliberate non-compliance, ensuring a level playing field for all taxpayers.”
However, Vinted CEO Adam Jay, told the BBC he did not believe the new rules would affect many of the site’s sellers.
He said: “It’s actually quite a small proportion of users of our platform who will trigger this threshold where we need to provide information.