Occasional seller, how do you declare the income to the tax authorities?
Good morning everyone, I sold some used items this year for a total of about 600 euros worth of stuff, after reading around I understood that even if they are occasional sales, they have to be declared in the tax return, now I would like to understand exactly how to do it step by step, of course I will have the accountant handle everything, but what exactly do I need to submit, (invoices or something else?) and where do I find everything?
Anonymous User
Posted 5 years ago·Last reply 3 years ago
9 comments
popololibero
·3 years agoThanks to everyone for the very kind and interesting replies, but if I wanted to sum things up it seems to me that I’ve understood that no fixed limit actually exists in practice;
as for me, my conscience is more than clear and even in the event of checks it wouldn’t be hard for me to prove that it’s all mine and that I’m simply thinning out part of the collection (in 99% of cases at prices lower than cover price, by the way), I’d just need to know how to go about it without having to subjectively decide who to believe (several experts I consulted gave me opposite answers).
marioelegio
·3 years agoIn fact there is no limit, there are some legends that indicate values on which they say the algorithms of the tax authority are calibrated. As you rightly say you have a clear conscience, more than clear, and even in the event of checks it would not be difficult for me to prove that it is all your stuff.
hi
mario
morgana10
·3 years agoIf you really want to be on the safe side, you should keep receipts for every sale for 5 years, because in the event of disputes they have to be made specifically for each individual transaction. Basically, just save the generic receipt you find on eBay in the sales details of each transaction, where the necessary data is listed:
Nothing else for used items sold by a private individual.
Regards
heavenwelkin
·3 years agoBack when PayPal was used often, the money collected would often stay in the internal PayPal account to be used later for other purchases on eBay or for payment of goods and services, so it was a different situation from the one we have now.
Today things have become much more serious, and it is no coincidence that the vast majority of the "private individuals" who used to sell regularly on eBay have now stopped doing this and/or have moved to other marketplaces.
At the moment I am selling my own personal items on eBay with another account as a private seller for amounts ranging between 1500 ~ 3000 euros per year.
Sometimes I end up with zero sales in a month, other times 1 sale a month, other times 5, and personally I am not declaring them.
On these issues there are different schools of thought .... there is also the school of thought that says: as long as eBay doesn't restrict me, I'll just keep going..... 😎
Kind regards.
popololibero
·3 years agoHello, I read everything with great interest since I’ve been a collector for years and lately, because of a move, I’m selling part of my more than substantial collection of books, DVDs and comics;
I’ve always used the annual 4,800 gross euros as my only point of reference (I buy and sell occasionally on ebay, and have been doing so for 15 years) and I’ve adjusted accordingly based on that. I’m not in a hurry and I’d also be fine with “freezing” the account for a few months if I get too close to the annual limit... as long as I know about it though!
Now that I see how subtle this is, I’m starting to worry. How can I be 100% sure I stay within the limits?
Is it no longer enough to keep ebay’s gross for the current year under this mythical threshold regardless of the number of transactions?
Thanks
sika700
·3 years agoHello,
the limit of the “famous” €5000 only applies to occasional services or occasional work... continuous and well-organized online sales are not considered occasional work.
So whether you sell new or used items continuously and in a well-organized way (a storefront on a marketplace is definitely organized!) makes you a “sort of” merchant, whether you sell 1 item or 100 items, or whether you earn €50 or €10000!
If you sell your car for €5000 for example, that’s an occasional episode... that does not make you a merchant.
If instead you sell 500 items at €10 each... that makes you a merchant.
I hope I’ve helped you understand the difference.
Kind regards.
heavenwelkin
·3 years agoGood morning popololibero
From a Google search for the year 2023
quote: According to the provisions of the 2023 laws, for sales carried out occasionally it is not mandatory to open a VAT number. To be considered occasional, an activity must be carried out sporadically, without any regularity or continuity over time, regardless of the amount earned.
Anyone who sells a used item has no declaration obligations because the price obtained is almost always lower than what was initially spent to buy it. In the absence of a profit, there are therefore no tax obligations. For example, anyone who sells at a flea market does not then have to declare the profits obtained.26 Apr 2022
All eBay sellers receive foreign bank transfers from eBay always with the same reason code, so from that you can't trace back to the content of the sale.
If you make many low-value sales to somehow HIDE the fact that you receive ongoing bank transfers (as in your case), it would probably be better to have a single monthly transfer sent to you (as long as it is not a significant amount, of course) so as to make it seem like you make occasional sales rather than small ongoing daily transfers.
From what I seem to understand from your post, up to 4800 euros you don't worry about declaring them. And on this, honestly, I can't give you any advice because I don't know the operating mechanisms / parameters used by the tax authorities.
In any case, the fact that you receive bank transfers from abroad certainly does not help us go unnoticed, even if they are small amounts.
In general, I would tell you that up to 2500 euros, if you sell your personal items, you shouldn't have any worries; then I think that up to 10,000 euros they should simply do some spot checks but nothing more. Starting tax investigations and involving staff for such low amounts, I don't think is standard practice. But I wouldn't bet my life on it, because once an investigation starts, penalties still have to be paid.
quote: In cases of failure to file the tax return, a penalty ranging from 120% to 240% of the taxes due is imposed, with a minimum of 250 euros. If no taxes are due, the penalty is from 258 euros to 1,032 euros
Kind regards.
heavenwelkin
·3 years agoI’ve never reached these amounts above 4,800 euros, so I don’t have direct experience, but I know plenty of private sellers who, before the switch to the new crediting mechanism via foreign bank transfer, easily went over 10k with PayPal and never declared anything and never had any problems.
Anyway, things have changed quite a bit now, so personally I wouldn’t take too many risks.
Best regards.
actar80
·3 years agoI'm attaching some links to sites that cover the topic, I think they could be useful.
https://fiscomania.com/vendere-online-senza-partita-iva-e-possibile/
https://www.prontoprofessionista.it/articoli/le-vendite-online-occasionali-tramite-i-marketplace-aspetti-fiscali.html?author=f
https://www.fiscoetasse.com/approfondimenti/11158-vendita-su-ebay-quando-occasionale-e-quando-diventa-reddito-di-impresa.html