Selling items on e-bay and taxes

[Romanian42]

I was wondering if people selling items through online websites like :

- e-bay
- amazon
- huuto.net

do pay taxes and how they do it.
in theory it should be necessary to pay taxes on those sales.

The question is trickier than it might seem at first.

One of the reason for the trickiness is that in order to properly tax profits deriving from items sales
there should be some sort of documented accounting for both cost and revenues .. while the latters (revenues)
are easy to determine ( price sold ) the cost of the item is often undetermined, depending from the origin of the items
especially if they are second-hands, or if they come from clearing the attic or previous barter or old possessions,
recycling, or something that was bought long time ago or whatever... the originating "cost"
is kind of a figment of the seller's imagination or in the best case long lost memories of past decades.
How one can appropriately document the costs.

Any useful comment about this ?

[Adrian42]

I was wondering if people selling items through online websites like :

- e-bay
- amazon
- huuto.net

do pay taxes and how they do it.
in theory it should be necessary to pay taxes on those sales.

Any useful comment about this ?

Are you talking about privately selling a few old items from your attic, or about running a business selling second-hand items?

[Romanian42]

Are you talking about privately selling a few old items from your attic, or about running a business selling second-hand items?

Either way.

It doesn't make any difference ....
sales of items on public websites are not "private" by definition.

And even the clearing of items from the attic or whatever..
eventually generates entries on the bank statements
that should be justified... everything is subject to taxation.

Also people who get token money from google ad-sense on their blog are liable to the tax-man
even though that falls in a different category.


How costs are calculated/determined/documented ?

[Adrian42]

Are you talking about privately selling a few old items from your attic, or about running a business selling second-hand items?

Either way.

It doesn't make any difference ....
sales of items on public websites are not "private" by definition.

It surely makes a difference - there is a huge difference between selling your old car for a few thousand Euro and running a business selling second hand cars.

And "private" is not meant in the sense of non-public here, but as not-for-profit.

And even the clearing of items from the attic or whatever..
eventually generates entries on the bank statements
that should be justified... everything is subject to taxation.

That's double wrong:
When asking whether something is subject to taxation or not (not everything is), it is not relevant whether something generates entries on your bank statement or not.

When you go to town, place a hat in front of you, and sing a few songs on your guitar, then the money you get in the head does not generate entries on your bank statement.
But it is taxable income.

When you sell your old car for a few thousand Euro that does generate entries on your bank statement.
But you don't have to pay taxes on that.

Also people who get token money from google ad-sense on their blog are liable to the tax-man
even though that falls in a different category.

That's not really different from someone standing on the street with his guitar.

[Romanian42]

Hmmm...

Any useful comment about this ?

Can you read the quote ?

If yes ...
what part of "useful comment" .. is not clear ?


That said, if you have any relevant information related
to the original question please go ahead...

PS.
And I missed that ...

And "private" is not meant in the sense of non-public here, but as not-for-profit.


Uah ah ah ah ah ah ...

selling items ... on e-bay .. is not-for-profit.... that's fantastic

ah ah ah

[Adrian42]

Hmmm...

Any useful comment about this ?

Can you read the quote ?

If yes ...
what part of "useful comment" .. is not clear ?

That said, if you have any relevant information related
to the original question please go ahead...

Hmmm...

Are you talking about privately selling a few old items from your attic, or about running a business selling second-hand items?

Can you read the quote ?

If yes ...
what part of Are you talking about ..., or about ... .. is not clear ?

That said, if you have any relevant information related
to what your question actually is about please go ahead...

[Adrian42]

PS.
And I missed that ...

And "private" is not meant in the sense of non-public here, but as not-for-profit.


Uah ah ah ah ah ah ...

selling items ... on e-bay .. is not-for-profit.... that's fantastic

ah ah ah

Whatever stuff you are smoking, it is so bad that you should definitely not sell it on ebay...

[Romanian42]

PS.
And I missed that ...

And "private" is not meant in the sense of non-public here, but as not-for-profit.


Uah ah ah ah ah ah ...

selling items ... on e-bay .. is not-for-profit.... that's fantastic

ah ah ah

Whatever stuff you are smoking, it is so bad that you should definitely not sell it on ebay...

UAH AH AH AH AH



That's fantastic... really... whatever

What do you do for a living in your spare time when you're not on Finland Forum
the standing comedian.... ?

[lovelyjet]

I'm also interested in this topic. Adrian, you are missing the point. The questions are 'do people selling stuffs on ebay/huuto pay taxes', and 'how do they do tax', not 'Is it taxable'.

Well, to the topic, I used to sell stuffs on ebay in Germany, but the income generated is rather small. I have never paid tax for those incomes, even if i'm asked to, it would be difficult to determine the original costs as I bought the items in separate deals and by cash. In theory, I suppose this income is taxable, but I doubt people on ebay would keep track of their incomes generated there or pay for the incurred tax.

[Adrian42]

I'm also interested in this topic. Adrian, you are missing the point. The questions are 'do people selling stuffs on ebay/huuto pay taxes', and 'how do they do tax', not 'Is it taxable'.

What a nonsense. it is clearly you who is missing the point.

Just like in

Well, to the topic, I used to sell stuffs on ebay in Germany,

In Germany, it is tax-free when you are a private person selling stuff on ebay without making a profit.
If it is your business, there is no real difference between selling in a shop or on ebay.

but the income generated is rather small. I have never paid tax for those incomes, even if i'm asked to, it would be difficult to determine the original costs as I bought the items in separate deals and by cash.

If you are legally required to pay taxes, then it is your duty to keep track of the expenses and revenue of your business.

Failure to do so, and failure to pay taxes, is a criminal offense that can bring you into prison just like Al Capone (who was convicted only for tax evasion).

In theory, I suppose this income is taxable, but I doubt people on ebay would keep track of their incomes generated there or pay for the incurred tax.

http://juris.bundesfinanzhof.de/cgi-bin ... n&nr=28182

This is a recent ruling from the highest German tax court stating that the German tax authorities have the right to requests like

Give us a list of all sellers in Lower Saxonia who had in one of the years 2007-2009 more than 17,500 Euro revenue, including detailed information about every single sale they made.

from companies like ebay.

[007]

tax exemption for profits generated from sales of used goods is possible in finland. the relevant law can be found somehwere online. can't be arsed to go find and link the relevant laws here.

well.. now if the profit is under say 5000 euros in a year, then you don't have to pay tax at all whereas on the other hand, if the profit exceeds that, then the income becomes taxable. now how tax is calculated and all, don't know.