ebay income

peaman

A client just told me that his wife receives income from ebay, she buys stock with the intention to sell at a profit, so there is obviously an intention to trade.

However, she has no other income or benefits, the ebay income is very small (few hundred £'s a year), so there will never be a tax/NI liability.

Will she need to register as self employed and complete tax returns/class 2 exception etc.?

I remember a client a few years ago was in a similar situation (low profits, not from ebay) and they sent a letter to HMRC each year to advise them that there profits were well below the PA and they didn't need to submit returns.

I mentioned this to HMRC's SA helpline, they said that they have never heard of this before, they stated that they must be registered as self employed. But to be honest, he didn't sound that sure!