Vinted, eBay and Etsy sellers face new HMRC tax rules

As of January 1, online platforms such as Vinted, eBay, Etsy and Deliveroo will be required to record how much money individuals are making and report back to HMRC.

Despite HMRC already being able to request information, there are new rules that the UK has signed up to via the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

The change is only expected to impact individuals who are either not already declaring additional income or who are under-reporting their earnings.

It will apply to both the sales of goods and services, including the sale of handcrafted and secondhand clothing, as well as food delivery and taxi hire.

HMRC is set to invest almost £37m into the initiative as well as employ 24 full-time staff members to “launch and enforce” the new measures, according to The Mirror.

The information gathered will be shared between countries that have also signed up to the OECD tax rules.

An HMRC spokesperson told the BBC: “These new rules will support our work to help online sellers get their tax right first time. They will also help us detect any deliberate non-compliance, ensuring a level playing field for all taxpayers.”

Under the rules, businesses will not be required to share data about sellers who make fewer than 30 transactions or equivalent to €2,000 (£1,740) each year.

Vinted marketplace chief executive Adam Jay also told the BBC that he did not believe the new rules would affect many of Vinted’s sellers.

He said: “It’s quite a small proportion of users of our platform who will trigger this threshold where we need to provide information.

“It’s only those people who are making a profit from selling secondhand items that might be eligible for tax and then it’s about their personal tax situation; what tax would ultimately be due to HMRC.

“We’ll be actively reaching out to those sellers explaining what the new requirements are and why they exist.”