The situation
A seller trading on two marketplaces had grown busy and let the bookkeeping slide. Sales, marketplace fees, postage, refunds and stock purchases were all tangled together, and he had no reliable profit figure to report.
The problem
Without untangling the marketplace reports, his return would be guesswork, likely overstating profit and overpaying tax, while missing allowable costs such as fees and postage. He was also unsure whether he was near the VAT threshold.
What we did
- Reconciled the marketplaces. We worked through the reports to establish real sales, net of fees and refunds.
- Captured every cost. Marketplace and payment fees, postage, packaging and stock were all claimed.
- Checked VAT and set up software. We confirmed his VAT position and put simple software in place for the future.
What changed
He got an accurate profit figure and a return that claimed every cost, which reduced his tax compared with the rough estimate he would have filed. His records are now clean and current, and his VAT position is monitored.
What this shows
Online selling generates a lot of data, and untangling it properly means an accurate return, every cost claimed, and no nasty VAT surprises.
Selling online and records in a muddle?
We untangle your marketplace data, claim every cost, watch your VAT position, and set up clean records, so your tax is accurate and as low as it should be.