eBay, Vinted, Etsy, Depop and Airbnb now send your sales data to HMRC automatically. Clearing out your wardrobe is fine, but if you are trading, once you pass £1,000 in a year you need to declare it. We tell you which side of the line you are on, register you if needed, and file it, all for a fixed fee.
Side Hustle & Online Seller Tax, UK
Since January 2024, online platforms including eBay, Vinted, Etsy, Depop and Airbnb have been required to collect your sales data and report it to HMRC automatically, and HMRC has already received the figures for 2024 and 2025. None of this created a new tax. Selling your own used possessions, clothes, furniture or odds and ends from the loft, is not taxable and never was. What has changed is simply that HMRC can now see your activity, and the people caught out are those quietly running a side business who assumed nobody was looking.
The line that matters is whether you are selling or trading. Clearing out your own things is not trading. Buying to resell, making things to sell, or providing a service is. Once that trading income passes £1,000 gross in a tax year, you need to tell HMRC and usually file a Self Assessment return. Your Tax Help Accountants tells you honestly which side of the line you are on, registers you if you need it, claims the trading allowance or your actual expenses, whichever leaves you paying less, and files it correctly, all for one fixed fee.
The £1,000 trading allowance is measured on gross income, before any costs. Earn under it from a side hustle and there is usually nothing to do. Go over it and you should register, even if your actual profit is small.
What We Handle
We look at what you sell and how, and tell you plainly whether HMRC treats it as a taxable trade or just selling your own things.
Crossed the £1,000 line? We register you with HMRC, get your UTR, and set you up to file correctly and on time.
We claim the flat £1,000 trading allowance or your real costs, whichever leaves you paying less, never both.
eBay, Vinted, Etsy, Depop, Airbnb, Uber, Deliveroo and the rest, every platform pulled together into one clean return.
Behind on declaring a side hustle from past years? We bring you up to date and handle HMRC, ideally before they come to you. Winding the side hustle down? Here is how to tell HMRC you have stopped trading.
One accountant, one fixed fee, your return filed accurately so you only ever pay the tax you actually owe.
Most people genuinely do not know where the line sits, and the rules on selling versus trading are not obvious. Tell us what you sell and roughly how much, and we can usually tell you within minutes whether you need to do anything. There is no cost to find out, and if you are in the clear we will say so plainly. If you do need to declare, we handle all of it for a fixed fee.
Recent Client Outcome
A reseller bought clothes at car boot sales and charity shops and sold them on Vinted and Depop, making a few thousand pounds a year. She assumed that because it was "just selling clothes" it did not count. When the platform reporting rules began, she realised HMRC would now see the activity and panicked.
We confirmed she was trading, not clearing out her own wardrobe, registered her for Self Assessment, and reconstructed two years of income and costs from her platform statements. We claimed her actual expenses where they beat the trading allowance and filed both years properly.
Because she came forward voluntarily, any penalties were kept to a minimum, and she now files one clean return a year. The relief of being straight with HMRC, she said, was worth more than the tax.
Why Clients Choose Us
Tax Refund Questions Answered
Free fifteen-minute call. Tell us what you sell and roughly how much, we will tell you if you need to declare, register you if so, and file it. Same accountant, start to finish.
Or email info@yourtaxhelp.co.uk, we typically respond within two business hours.
📅 Free consultation calls available weekdays 1pm to 3pm and 7pm to 8pm. Pick a slot that suits you.