Do I need an abn number to start an eBay store

[katiegames69]

Hi,I am going to upgrade to an eBay store starting in the new financial year it will be my primary income but I don't plan on going over $75000 gross sales do I still need to get an abn number for tax purposes?

[davewil1964]

No it's not.

If you have an ABN and tell eBay, they will make your account a business account. It doesn't attract any benefits, but you might miss out on promos.

Bottomline - you don't NEED an ABN. if you get one, don't register for GST until you need to. And don't tell eBay as it is nothing to do with them until you hit that $75k threshold, where the only benefit you will get is not having to pay GST on your fees, which will leave you with less GST credits.

[lyndal1838]

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@katiegames69 wrote:

I do plan on declaring it all next year just need to know if an abn is required to do so

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Does that mean you have been declaring all your income as a seller or not?

If you have been then you do not need to change anything....just having a store does not change anything.

[louisas_lines]

Agree with everyone above that you don't need an ABN to open a store, unless you have enough turnover to register for GST.

I've been seeing an accountant for years... all above board and legit with ATO, easy peasy... I'm very small scale and do this on the side of a regular job.. never been advised I need an ABN to work as a sole trader.  I was worried as well that I might miss out on promotions if I'm a registered business with ebay.

[digital*ghost]

This is kind of a general but related question, because I see this discussed and occasionally hotly debated a lot elsewhere. I don't usually get involved as I have the trifecta lol (ABN, registered business name, and GST-registration).

Ok,so ASIC says:

"A business name is the name your business operates under. You need to register a business name if you conduct business under a name other than your own."

And in order to register for a business name, you have to have an ABN, so, my question is....

What counts as operating under a business name other than your own? If you register on eBay with your legal name (eg Joe Bloggs), then register a different username (eg best_widgets_ever), are you operating under Joe Bloggs or best_widgets_ever ? 

[lupercal]

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@lyndal1838 wrote:

So ebay has been notifying the ATO of seller's income based on the lower amount of $1000.

It should not make any difference if sellers are doing the right thing and declaring all their ebay income as they should be doing.

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Ebay have a reporting cut-off point 2K lower than the ATO requests?  

[the.kings.road]

I have this exact same question.

[*tippy*toes*]

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@the.kings.road wrote:

I have this exact same question.

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Did you read the replies in this thread?

[andrew0123]

It's a very unfavourable situation for people who are selling their own possessions and declaring income because they have, like me, over $50,000 expenses that can't be deducted beause you bought them in prior years. There should be something to help sellers of private items and encourage them to declare income such as to claim for as many prior years as possible. All there is a hobby vs. business scenario which encourages hobbyist to not declare if they are making no profits. 

You might want to look at this. 

https://www.ato.gov.au/Business/Non-commercial-losses

[lyndal1838]

Please see an accountant asap.

You are doing yourself a great disservice as you do not know the ATO rules.

If I choose to sell items from around my home and declare my income, I have every right to claim my expenses if I have proof.

[andrew0123]

Also, for those saying a business account will not get promotional offers... I am not yet a business account but I have never gotten any promotional offers since I first started selling as a non-store owner (over 1 year). Only one for free insertion fees which I never wanted to use because i only keep to a 1500 item store and the time i tried to activate it, it failed to work.