I had a little time while it was raining at the cricket so I ran some numbers on the OPโs โsoldโ items that show in completed listings.
I only did the OPโs because they were the one who posted that โI do it beacuse I love it and its a boost to my part time wages, will be sad if I have to finnishโ and I think, but canโt possibly be 100% sure unless they enlighten us, that they might not have fully considered the tax implications of their selling activity to the ATO.
The 119 sold listings date back to 27th March, with the most recent sold item 12th June, making any totals from these listings a 2.5 month total.
Final value of sold items runs to about $1,960 with postage of about $990 meaning turnover of $2,950 . . . . or almost $1,200 per month.
If the turnover for the last 2.5 months is โtypicalโ then the yearly total would go well over the mandatory reporting total of $10,000 (approx $14,000)
Even if there were 2 months of zero sales and 10 months of โtypicalโ sales then that would still result in a yearly total well over the $10,000 threshold for mandatory reporting.
Considering the OP lamented the demise of the weekend listing promotion they would not have had as much in listing fees as they would have had there been no promotions in this last year. This means there would be less โdeductionsโ from the turnover figure . . . . and a higher tax liability should the OP go over the $18,200 tax-free threshold from all income sources.
The costs associated with engaging the services of a tax agent/accountant would also be tax deductible, but whether it is claimable this tax year or next would depend on when those costs are incurred.
**disclaimer** I am not giving financial advice, just posting on a public forum. I have no formal accounting qualifications or tax preparation experience. The posts I make are based on wide reading, including the ATO website and related eBay pages and these boards when members post about their tax/accounting experiences. Any member who is not sure about their tax obligations needs to contact the ATO or a tax accountant to ensure compliance.
They may have asked about free listings and discounted FVFs but did go further and started discussing number of sales, the supplementing of part-time income and what constitutes being a small time seller. In this context, I think a discussion about turnover and โotherโ potential influences on profitability are on-topic.
All the tax stuff (ebay reporting to ATO) will be irrelevant when the ATO start requiring paypal to report everyone with deposits over $X like they do in the US and UK. No, I haven't heard any talk of them doing it here but it's only a matter of time as that would catch out a lot more people than just ebay reporting.
OK thanks. I thought the reference was to some sort of Ebay-authority board where they gave (early) notice of these sorts of changes. I checked their Autumn 2019 post but there was no reference to these changes. They probably don't see them as a 'change' per se just simply not continuing do do what they had done on an adhoc basis in the past. No problem was I've only been selling for 8 months or so & have experienced the no freebie situation before.
Not sure how that would work with PayPal because I for one transfer money through PayPal to family and friends and also withdraw money from my bank account into PayPal and vise versa so you're saying that will be classed as income? I don't think so.
Not sure how that would work with PayPal because I for one transfer money through PayPal to family and friends and also withdraw money from my bank account into PayPal and vise versa so you're saying that will be classed as income? I don't think so.
I have no idea how it works but I think the figure in the US is $5,000. Anyone who has more than that going into their paypal account is reported to the IRS, same as ebay au reports all sellers who sell over a specified amount. They've had it for a few years in the US but the UK only introduced it in the last year or so.
Like ebay sales, I think it'd be up to the pp a/c holder to prove whether the payments were personal or not. Friends & family payments can probably be separated out pretty easily by paypal. Banks have to report all transactions over a certain amount so it's the same principle, though so far banks only report single transactions over that amount, not total transactions.
@jane-de-cluttering wrote: OK thanks. I thought the reference was to some sort of Ebay-authority board where they gave (early) notice of these sorts of changes. I checked their Autumn 2019 post but there was no reference to these changes. They probably don't see them as a 'change' per se just simply not continuing do do what they had done on an adhoc basis in the past. No problem was I've only been selling for 8 months or so & have experienced the no freebie situation before.
For some reason they don't send emails about upcoming changes to all sellers. A lot of their information on changes can be found under the Seller Centre link at the bottom of the page but I wouldn't necessarily say it's all included there. The Announcements section used to cover all changes but they seem to have abandoned that, just as they seem to have stopped putting major announcements in the Ebay Announcements & Seller Releases section of the discussion boards (forum).
