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?

[andrew0123]

That's good to know. So if you have a receipt from 2000, you can claim this item? 

[chameleon54]

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@andrew0123 wrote:

That's good to know. So if you have a receipt from 2000, you can claim this item? 

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Purchases of stock are usually claimed on your ATO lodgement for the financial year you purchase them. ie. if you purchase something in 2000 but do not sell it until 2020, you could have claimed it on the year 2000 ATO lodgement. In some cases an accountant can make an adjustment to reflect invoices found a year later, but not claimed etc. but it is only a retrospective adjustment to a previous years ATO lodgement. 

The problem you have is you seem to have been buying / collecting stuff for many years and stashing it away with a view to selling it at a profit later.  I have done the same thing. I have sheds full of old stuff I purchased for a few dollars at garage sales and markets 20 years ago that has just been slowly maturing and is now worth a lot of money. Old classic car parts, vintage computer games, tin toys etc.

You now want to sell these for good money and want to claim the original costs to the acquire the goods as an expense. Sorry, it isn't going to work. You needed to be registered with the ATO and lodging tax returns in the year 2000 if you wanted to claim stock purchase costs for items enquired in 2000.

All you can do is sell the stuff and pay tax on the full sale price, minus any selling costs that occur in the year you sell them. If you find more stuff this year, you can claim the costs of that as a deduction on this years ATO lodgement.

This gets back to the annual stocktake and whether you declare stock value at cost or retail value etc. ( cost price is best ) You are required to advise the ATO of stock on hand each year. If it is going up in value, ( because it is becoming more collectible with age ) this is regarded as profit, even if it hasn't sold. Likewise if it drops in value ( because it goes out of fashion or gets spoiled in storage ) this is a loss.

Time to talk to an accountant, ( I wouldn't dream of trying to lodge my annual ATO statements myself ) you cant do this on your own.

[chameleon54]

enquired ? Darn spell check, acquired.....

[andrew0123]

I don't like how you can't claim losses for prior years despite not lodging a return. It is still profit and you should only be taxed on profits because we spent on money on our item and are at a loss. I'm not in the tax bracket and will lose 50 cents on the dollar of my DSP. This should be allowed to be constituted as a hobby if there is no profit, not based on whether it "looks" like a business despite what year the expenses occured. I did sell to cash converters and go to the market but didn't declare income in past years. I don't see how this encourages people to lodge their income when they bought their couch/chairs/computer games 2 years ago - even though I am going to the right thing, most people will keep quiet because of rules that do not favour them. And the ATO are only going to go after the people who are power sellers and having huge numbers because audits can take months. Sorry for the questions and rants. 

Anyway, i've put somewhat of a stop to research and selling (haven't listed for a few months) and seeing an accountant. 

[padi*0409]

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@andrew0123 wrote:

Anyway, i've put somewhat of a stop to research and selling (haven't listed for a few months) and seeing an accountant. 

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If you decide to start selling again you're going to need that accountant, remember the ATO will be informed by a lot of institutions about any sales/profit you've made, you don't need to be a "powerseller" to show on their radar.

[chameleon54]

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@andrew0123 wrote:

I don't like how you can't claim losses for prior years despite not lodging a return. It is still profit and you should only be taxed on profits because we spent on money on our item and are at a loss. I'm not in the tax bracket and will lose 50 cents on the dollar of my DSP. This should be allowed to be constituted as a hobby if there is no profit, not based on whether it "looks" like a business despite what year the expenses occured. I did sell to cash converters and go to the market but didn't declare income in past years. I don't see how this encourages people to lodge their income when they bought their couch/chairs/computer games 2 years ago - even though I am going to the right thing, most people will keep quiet because of rules that do not favour them. And the ATO are only going to go after the people who are power sellers and having huge numbers because audits can take months. Sorry for the questions and rants. 

Anyway, i've put somewhat of a stop to research and selling (haven't listed for a few months) and seeing an accountant. 

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I do sympathise with you to an extent. All governments are not overly generous towards social security recipients but they start cutting their benefits pretty quickly if they try to make a few extra dollars or work their way off of their benefits. It is bad policy and stops people from trying to improve their position.

As you say it encourages people to try to hide what they are doing rather than work in the system. While I don't have any special information, I suspect the ATO probably turn a bit of a blind eye to those who are just trying to make a few extra dollars. Whether this is because the people who work in the ATO have some compassion or because it is just too much effort for too little reward to chase them up, who knows.

They do set limits and follow up on those selling over $10 k or $12 k and this figure can change without notice and apply retrospectively.

The game changer will be when we move to a cashless society. COVID has hastened this and once it occurs all government agencies will be able to seamlessly track every dollar and chase up even small amounts.

[andrew0123]

Although I am in favor of the "hobby" thing, i think that's a great way to get people doing things without the burdens having too many business responsibilities. 

[usza59]

How to check if my ebay store has ABN?

[davewil1964]

No idea.

If you have an ABN, you should already know whether or not you have registered it with eBay. And it's an account level thing, not Store level.

I would certainly hope not - you don't seem to be a reliable seller.

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

@usza59

your eBay store doesn't get an ABN . . . YOU get an ABN.

If you do have an ABN, you can link that to your eBay store.

If this all sounds complicated then you should think about consulting a registered accountant and NOT the

eBay discussion boards.

Disclaimer:

I have no accounting expertise, have never had an eBay store, and offer opinions and not professional advice.

The opinions I offer on these boards is worth what members pay for it (i.e. $zero)