Occasionally selling a few things on an online marketplace can free you from ballast and improve your household budget. Since the beginning of the year, however, the tax office has automatically received a report from a certain number of sales. You can read here when taxes are due for private sales.
Many private sellers use Ebay to earn something on the side. The thought of whether the income generated in this way has to be declared in the tax return is often pushed aside. In principle, it is true that not every private sale is taxable, but a new law is now helping the tax authorities to get more information about who sells often and in large quantities.
This obliges online platforms on which goods or services can be brokered to report to the Federal Central Tax Office sellers who have made at least 30 sales through them in a year or who have earned at least 2000 euros from their transactions, as reported by Stiftung Warentest.
However, private providers can also exceed the new reporting limits without prejudice if they clear out the basement or attic, for example, and as a result sell many items. Because even if the tax office receives a report about the sales, they usually do not have to fear any additional tax. Such sales of everyday objects are part of the private wealth sphere and are tax-free. When it comes to used items of everyday life, you can sell as much as you want, according to the Bavarian wage tax aid. So far, the tax office has not been allowed to assume that private sales are part of dealership activities, as a judgment by the Federal Fiscal Court showed (file no.: X R 18/19).
However, private traders should always keep an eye on the tax office. For example, if they bought the items sold specifically for resale, the officials classify the sale as commercial and charge taxes. This must then be stated in the tax return in Appendix “SO” for other income as a private sale. The profit as well as the price and date of purchase and sale must be entered. In addition, the tax office also takes a close look at so-called speculative goods. This includes private valuables that can be sold again quickly and at great profit, such as jewellery, gold bars, coins or antiques. If you bought it yourself less than a year ago, you have to pay tax on the profit.
The tax office generally rates long-term profitable or profitable transactions as entrepreneurial. According to the product test, it can become critical from about 40 sales in a few months. The courts only decide in specific individual cases. There are indications of a trade if there is regular trading, high turnover, the sale of similar items or new goods, sale for third parties or expensively placed offers. It doesn’t matter if you actually make a profit. Any sustainable activity to generate revenue is commercial.
If there is a trade, the Treasury takes three taxes. In addition to income tax, sales tax and trade tax may also apply.
The employees of the Federal Central Tax Office also use modern software to search for tax evaders on the Internet. With the Xpider search engine, they specifically track down dealers, business founders and private individuals who cash in on a large scale by bypassing the tax office. You are threatened with hefty additional claims. Above all, those who offer many or larger lots of new goods over a longer period of time are targeted. The software automatically establishes cross-connections to the authority’s data. In this way, the officials can investigate specifically and the tax investigators can then check in detail.
