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What platforms now report
Online platforms report seller data to HMRC automatically. That includes marketplaces such as eBay, Etsy and Vinted, and gig and rental platforms such as Airbnb, Uber and Deliveroo.
They report your name, address, date of birth, National Insurance number where held, the number of transactions and the total you were paid. Reporting is triggered where you make around 30 or more sales in a year or are paid roughly £1,700 or more.
There was a lot of noise about this being a new tax on selling your old clothes. It is not a new tax and it never was. The rules on what is taxable did not change at all. What changed is that HMRC now receives the data whether or not you tell them.
The question is whether you are trading
Selling your own second hand possessions is not trading. Clearing out your wardrobe, selling a sofa, getting rid of the kids old bikes: not taxable, however much the headlines suggested otherwise, and no matter how many transactions it takes.
Buying or making things to sell at a profit is trading. If you buy stock to resell, make items for sale, or provide a service through a platform, that is a trade and it is taxable from the first pound of profit if you are over the allowance.
The distinction is intent, not volume. HMRC uses what are still known as the badges of trade to decide, looking at things like whether you bought the item to sell it, how often you do it, and whether you modified it to make a profit.
The trading allowance, and a myth to ignore
The trading allowance is £1,000 of gross income. If your total trading income for the year is under £1,000 you generally do not need to report it at all.
You will see a great deal written about this rising to £3,000. Be careful. A £3,000 reporting threshold was announced in March 2025 as something to happen within this parliament, but it has not been legislated and has no confirmed start date. It was not mentioned at the last Budget. As things stand today the allowance is £1,000, and anyone telling you otherwise is quoting a press release as though it were law.
Note also that the allowance is against gross income, not profit, and you choose either the allowance or your actual expenses, not both. If your costs exceed £1,000, claiming real expenses is better.
What to do
If you are trading, register and declare it. The data is already with HMRC, so the downside of waiting to be asked is considerably worse than the cost of getting it right.
Keep simple records of what you bought, what you sold it for, and your platform fees. A spreadsheet is fine.
If you have had a letter from HMRC about platform income, do not ignore it and do not panic. If you were genuinely selling personal possessions, say so and explain.
The figures reflect HMRC guidance as at July 2026. If you have had a nudge letter or you are not sure whether what you do counts as trading, get in touch.
Related services and guides
Self Assessment service Allowable expenses guide Self employed NI