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Question about tax - saying goodbye to my collection

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FinlayW

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Apr 23, 2018
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Hello!

I'm going to be doing a long move across the UK, and want to be as light as possible with the move, meaning I will be selling off my collection online. Most of it is fairly low value but there's a few bits in there worth something - I was wondering if selling off all this stuff would affect my income tax? Or does it not matter? I've seen borderline horror stories of people being investigated by HMRC for undeclared income from stuff like eBay sales and would rather not be prodded around by the government in the middle of a fairly large move.

Hope someone can advise! :)

Thanks,
Finlay
 
only if it puts you into the next tax bracket, and assuming you claim everything. Just remember to also deduct your expenses. Basically if you know how to to a long form you'll be fine.
b
 
In the UK if they are personal possessions then you are disposing of capital items and there is no liability for Income Tax. There could be a liability for Capital Gains Tax (CGT) but:-

You get an allowance of about £11,000 per year of GAIN so unless you have a lot valuables e.g. jewelry, paintings, (not your main dwelling or home that is exempt) as well as the computers you are unlikely to be liable for Tax. Even if you have more than £11,000 if you are married your spouse also has £11,000 and you can give them some of the items to sell, as transfers in marriage are also exempt. If you have other items and you can show you have made a loss you can deduct the losses from the profit.

It may also be that as the have a limited life, like clocks, collectible computers are exempt from CGT. This may not be a good thing as if you make a loss then you can't offset the loss against profits.

https://www.gov.uk/capital-gains-tax-personal-possessions/limited-lifespan

The UK tax year ends the 5th April and its £11,000 per year so anything sold in the next five days would come out of this years allowance, and you have £11,000 for the next...
... so make it clear in an E-Bay sales that you are disposing of a collection, not trading in computers and you will be fins.
 
Ok. I’ll say it officially.

Please contact your local tax professional, however in general all sales and donation of personal possessions should be accounted for and depending on your home jurisdiction you may have to declare the sale. As Bill points out depending on when you acquired that possession you may also be entitled to include the loss. In the USA and I’m sure the U.K. has something similar, claiming the loss is complicated because if bought the machine for $2000 10 years ago and now it’s worth $200, you generally can’t claim the loss unless you can show it was bought as an investment and even then there are caps and restrictions for an individual. On the bright side that ALTAIR you bought for $200 in the 1980 and is worth $4000, you only have to pay “capital gains” taxes on $3800 when you sell it, which may be less than your actual tax rate. This is assuming you are all perfect tax paying individuals and report everything as you are supposed to. I know I am :)
 
I would contact an accountant, I dont think you need to call the tax office or a tax attorney (maybe the UK doesn't have such a thing), They do this day in and day out, They can get you your numbers. I got him back in 2012 I think For selling a bunch of computers on eBay. Luckily I kept good documentation and an account actually saved me from owing. Made a couple hundred back actually.
 
KC9UDX said:
What's an attorney? :)

They do have tax solicitors.
Click to expand...

I hired a tax attorney once, I was audited in 2004. He was pathetic! Huge waste of money, you know what he did? He went on IRS.gov and printed out forms and handed them to me... "hey thanks"
 
That's not just tax attorneys... In my experience, unless you pay more in a hour than most of us make in a day, there's no point in hiring a lawyer.
 
KC9UDX said:
Dave, it's May.

Cheers
Matt
Click to expand...

Must take more water with the booze...

... and having read the UK Tax pages, computers seem exempt from CGT. If further advice is needed we have something called "Citizens Advice Bureau" (CAB). They have a page here:-

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/tax/problems-with-tax/help-with-tax-problems/

on how to get help. As many IT contractors in the UK have found out paying for advice may not result in good advice...

https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/tax/hmrc-policy/contractors-face-ruin-to-pay-tax-on-loans

also Spanish footballers (thats soccer of course)...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-40287173
 
Billdeg - if it all sold I would be going over my current tax band, only realised how close I was after actually going through this tax and salary calculator earlier this month as I was sorting out my mess of direct debits and things I didn't realise I was even paying for.

thank you everyone else for the replies! :) I'll look at contacting HMRC or getting an accountant to help, will try not to get fleeced!:rolleyes:

Thanks again :D
Finlay
 
Just to note. If I recall right, in the US if your selling at a loss you don't have to pay taxes. It might not be the same in the UK. You could sell the stuff with a ebay/paypal ghost account... But lets not go there, that a mess can on legal worms.


I second getting with a accountant, tax office or tax attorney. Better to be safe then sorry.
 
Mr. Horse said:
Just to note. If I recall right, in the US if your selling at a loss you don't have to pay taxes. It might not be the same in the UK. You could sell the stuff with a ebay/paypal ghost account... But lets not go there, that a mess can on legal worms.


I second getting with a accountant, tax office or tax attorney. Better to be safe then sorry.
Click to expand...

I find it really odd. In the UK we have two sorts of tax (well more).

Income Tax if the things you are selling are things that you trade in, so you buy and sell them as a business. Here you should pay income tax on the profit, but again trading expenses can be included.

If they are things you bought for personal use and are now disposing them after some time then "Capital Gains Tax" (CGT) is the relevant tax.

Here you can normally offset the losses against gains but only in the same year. You are also allowed £8000 of gains every year BUT it appears "machines" are excluded. So collectible clocks and watchs are excluded. I would therefore expect computers to be classified in the same way, so any profits made on computers you have owned for some time as collectable items can be sold at a profit tax free...
 
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