Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Traders on online platforms such as Airbnb, eBay and Vinted should check whether they need to submit a self-assessment tax return before the deadline on January 31 to avoid potential fines, tax experts have warned.Although the rules governing who must report trading income have not changed, digital platforms will this month for the first time report sales data for those meeting certain thresholds to the UK tax authority. Since last year, online platforms have been required to report the sales of anyone who has provided a paid-for service on their websites or apps and sold at least 30 items or earned around \u00a31,700 in 2024. The first reports will be sent to HM Revenue & Customs by the end of January.The reporting change caused widespread panic last year after inaccurate claims that a \u201cside hustle tax\u201d was being introduced.Experts said that people who have not correctly reported the trading income they have made on platforms need to make sure they now do so.\u201cHMRC will compare the reports they receive with their self-assessment records to determine if online sellers have paid the correct amount of tax on the income or gains received,\u201d said Fiona Fernie, a partner at accountancy firm Blick Rothenberg.\u201cA failure to register [for self-assessment] can result in penalties of between 20 per cent and 70 per cent of the tax due where HMRC judges the behaviour to have been \u2018deliberate but not concealed\u2019 plus significant interest charges where tax is paid late.\u201dPlatforms will not report the information of anyone making sales of less than 30 items or \u00a31,700 a year. Meanwhile, HMRC does not consider selling unwanted personal items casually as taxable.But if people regularly sell items or services on platforms with a view to making a profit \u2014 unless their gross income before expenses is \u00a31,000 or less in a tax year \u2014 then HMRC will consider them to be trading and they must submit a tax return.Angela MacDonald, HMRC\u2019s deputy chief executive officer, said: \u201cWe cannot be clearer \u2014 if you are not trading and just occasionally sell unwanted items online \u2014 there is no tax due.\u201dAndy Wood, an adviser at Tax Natives, an advisory firm, added: \u201cThe \u00a31,700 or 30-item threshold is simply the point where platforms report your sales data to HMRC. It doesn\u2019t automatically mean you owe tax or need to fill out a tax return, but it\u2019s a great reminder to check if what you\u2019re doing counts as taxable income.\u201dDawn Register, a tax dispute resolution partner at accountancy firm BDO, said there had been \u201ca great deal of confusion around when and how people need to pay tax on extra income or gains earned through side hustles such as selling goods online or earning money through social media content\u201d.She suggested people use a tool HMRC has developed to help online sellers work out whether they are required to file a tax return. While people are only required to submit a tax return for the 2023-24 tax year, Register recommended anyone who had not previously filed a return for online trading income for earlier years to do so.Doing so would \u201cavert any nasty shocks later down the line\u201d, she said.\u201cUnpaid tax from earlier years may be subject to late payment interest \u2014 currently at 7.25 per cent \u2014 and penalties, depending on the nature of the reasons for non-compliance, so it often pays to come clean at an early stage,\u201d Register added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Traders on online platforms such as Airbnb, eBay and Vinted should check whether they need to submit a self-assessment tax return before the deadline on January<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-150288","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-tech"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150288\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}