What online platforms report to HMRC about your sales

Since 1 January 2024, online platforms that connect sellers with buyers and know what each seller is paid, including the big marketplaces and holiday let sites, have had to collect your details and send HMRC a yearly report of what you earned through them. The first reports, covering 2024, were due by 31 January 2025. A report is not a tax bill. Whether you owe anything depends on what you sold and why, not on the fact that a platform told HMRC about it.

This guide covers every platform rather than one. Read it alongside our platform-specific page for eBay if you sell there.

Which online platforms report to HMRC?

The rules are the UK's version of the OECD model reporting rules for digital platforms, sometimes called DAC7 after the EU equivalent. HMRC's test is simple. An app or website is a reporting platform if it connects sellers to customers and it knows, or can easily work out, how much the seller was paid.

That catches three broad groups:

Selling goods. Marketplaces such as eBay, Vinted, Etsy and Amazon, where buyers pay through the platform.
Renting out property or transport. Short-stay sites such as Airbnb, and sites for hiring out cars or vans.
Personal services. Taxi and delivery apps, freelancing sites, and sites for tutoring, cleaning or dog walking.

Platforms based abroad are not a gap. A platform in another country that follows the same rules reports to its own tax authority, and HMRC exchanges that information, so a UK seller is still covered.

Some things are not reporting platforms. HMRC excludes a site that only lets people list or advertise items, with payment made directly between buyer and seller, as well as software that only processes payments or only helps you build a website. That is why your own online shop is usually outside these rules, as our guide on whether Shopify reports to HMRC explains. The income is still taxable in the normal way.

What details do platforms collect from you?

A pile of parcels wrapped in brown paper and string, waiting to be posted to buyers

If you sell as an individual, a platform will ask for:

your full name;
the address where you normally live;
your date of birth;
your National Insurance number if you live in the UK;
the address of each property you rent out, if you let through the platform.

A company is asked for its legal name, main business address and company registration number. A platform that cannot get these details can limit your account until you provide them.

What do platforms send to HMRC?

Everything above, plus:

the total paid to you in each quarter of the calendar year, after the platform's deductions;
the fees, commission and taxes the platform charged or withheld;
the number of transactions you were paid for;
the bank account the money went to, if the platform holds it.

The platform must also give you a copy. Keep it. HMRC has the same figures and can compare them with your tax return.

Will you be reported if you only sell a few things?

For goods, there is a small seller exception, and it needs both conditions. You are left out only if you made fewer than 30 sales of goods in the calendar year and received 2,000 euros or less, about £1,700. Reach 30 sales or go over that amount and you are reported. Each platform applies the test to sales on its own site, so selling on three marketplaces means three separate tests.

What you do on the platform	Small seller exception?	When you are reported
Sell goods	Yes: under 30 sales and €2,000 (about £1,700) or less	30 or more sales, or more than about £1,700
Provide services	No	Any amount
Rent out transport	No	Any amount
Rent out property	No	Any amount

So an Airbnb host or a delivery rider can be reported on modest earnings, and someone clearing out a wardrobe through 40 small sales on Vinted can be reported on a few hundred pounds.

Why won't the platform's figures match your tax return?

Your report and your tax return measure different things. There are four differences.

Different years. Platforms report the calendar year, 1 January to 31 December. Tax runs from 6 April to 5 April, so you need to rebuild your figures by tax year.
Net against gross. The report shows what was paid to you after fees. The £1,000 trading allowance test looks at your gross income before expenses, which is higher.
Personal items are included. The platform cannot tell your old coat from stock bought to resell. Both appear in the total.
One platform at a time. Each report covers one platform. HMRC's tests add together all your trading income, from every platform and anywhere else.

Does being reported to HMRC mean you owe tax?

No. HMRC says so directly: a report does not automatically mean you owe tax. To pay tax on what you sell online, you need to be either trading or making a capital gain.

Selling your own things is usually neither. Clothes you wore, a sofa you replaced, the contents of a loft: you probably do not pay Income Tax on these, however many you sell. The exception is a single item, or a set, sold for more than £6,000, which may bring Capital Gains Tax.

Buying to resell, or making things to sell, is likely to be trading. HMRC says you are probably trading if you sell goods you bought intending to sell at a profit, or items you make, including as a hobby. Our guide to the badges of trade shows where decluttering stops and trading starts.

When does a hobby seller owe tax?

If your gross trading income across everything you do is £1,000 or less in the tax year, the trading allowance usually covers it and you need not tell HMRC. Above £1,000, you must tell HMRC by registering for Self Assessment. You then either deduct £1,000 from your income or deduct your actual costs, whichever leaves less profit.

Illustration, not a real client. One seller clears out £2,400 of her own clothes on Vinted over the year. She will probably be reported, because £2,400 is over the threshold, but these are personal possessions, so there is no Income Tax to pay. Another buys at car boot sales and resells on eBay, taking £1,800 for stock that cost £1,100. His gross income is over £1,000, so he must tell HMRC. Claiming his costs leaves £700 of profit; the allowance would leave £800, so he claims costs.

Renting is treated differently. The trading allowance does not cover rental income. There is a separate £1,000 property allowance, and letting furnished rooms in your own home can fall under the Rent a Room Scheme, which is tax-free up to £7,500 a year, or £3,750 if you share the income.

What should you do when you get your platform report?

Check it against your own records. If something looks wrong, raise it with the platform, since it holds the data it sent.
Split personal sales from trading. Note which items were your own belongings. That record is your answer if HMRC asks.
Rebuild the figures by tax year, gross of fees, across every platform you use. Our side hustle tax checker gives a quick first view.
Register on time. You must tell HMRC by 5 October after the end of the tax year. For 2025/26 that date was 5 October 2026. If you missed it, register now. HMRC will give you three months from its letter to file, but the tax is still due by 31 January 2027, and paying all of it by then usually avoids a penalty for registering late.
Put earlier years right. If you should have declared income in past years, there is a set route for doing so. Our guides cover the Digital Disclosure Service and what to do with an HMRC nudge letter.

If you would like a clear answer on where you stand, with your platform reports turned into tax-year figures, see our accounting for ecommerce sellers page or book a free call.

Frequently asked questions

Do eBay, Vinted and Etsy report my sales to HMRC?

Marketplaces that connect buyers with sellers and know what each seller is paid must report sellers each January, either to HMRC or, for a platform based abroad, to its own tax authority, which shares the data with HMRC. Sellers of goods are left out only if they made fewer than 30 sales and received 2,000 euros (about £1,700) or less in the calendar year.

Does Airbnb report rental income to HMRC?

Platforms that let you rent out property must report hosts whatever they earn, because the small seller exception applies only to goods. They also report the address of each property you let through them.

Do I pay tax on selling my own clothes online?

Usually not. Selling your own used belongings is not trading, so there is normally no Income Tax. A single item or set sold for more than £6,000 may bring Capital Gains Tax.

What happens if I earn under £1,000 from selling online?

If your gross trading income from all sources is £1,000 or less in the tax year, the trading allowance usually means you do not need to tell HMRC. Keep records anyway, in case you are reported and HMRC asks.