Private traders must disclose their earnings and pay tax but where is the line drawn between selling and trading?
An eBay trader has been sentenced to two years in jail after failing to pay tax on over 500,000 items he sold on the auction website.
While regarded as an extreme case, experts were today urging other eBay traders to declare their earnings or risk falling foul of the law.
The number of Britons selling goods on the auction website has exploded in recent years. Many see it as a way of supplementing income while others have set up full-time.
There are around 200,000 business sellers registered on eBay today, up from 180,000 in 2011. The total number of sellers that use the site is much higher.
John Woolfenden failed to pay almost ?300,000 worth of tax to HM Revenue and Customs from trades he made on eBay over a period of six years.
His online DVD, music and games business, Globalworldentertainments, traded over 500,000 items of stock with a turnover valued at ?1.4m.
Woolfenden pleaded guilty to two counts of cheating the public revenue and one count of concealing or transferring criminal property and was sentenced on Wednesday at Bolton Crown Court to two years imprisonment.
It is the responsibility of private traders to disclose their earnings and pay correct amounts of tax.
An eBay trader has been sentenced to two years in jail after failing to pay tax on over 500,000 items he sold on the auction website.
While regarded as an extreme case, experts were today urging other eBay traders to declare their earnings or risk falling foul of the law.
The number of Britons selling goods on the auction website has exploded in recent years. Many see it as a way of supplementing income while others have set up full-time.
There are around 200,000 business sellers registered on eBay today, up from 180,000 in 2011. The total number of sellers that use the site is much higher.
John Woolfenden failed to pay almost ?300,000 worth of tax to HM Revenue and Customs from trades he made on eBay over a period of six years.
His online DVD, music and games business, Globalworldentertainments, traded over 500,000 items of stock with a turnover valued at ?1.4m.
Woolfenden pleaded guilty to two counts of cheating the public revenue and one count of concealing or transferring criminal property and was sentenced on Wednesday at Bolton Crown Court to two years imprisonment.
It is the responsibility of private traders to disclose their earnings and pay correct amounts of tax.
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https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/ebay-users-warned-declare-income-154221159.html
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