SELLERSTACK HMRC TOOL · UPDATED FOR 2026
HMRC Sales &
Tax Threshold Checker
Check where your online selling activity sits against key UK trading, platform-reporting, VAT and Making Tax Digital thresholds.
HMRC Sales & Tax Threshold Checker
Check your position against important UK trading, platform-reporting, VAT and Making Tax Digital thresholds.
Enter your gross trading income before deducting fees, stock costs, postage or other business expenses.
Enter your total income from genuine trading activities during the tax year.
Your intentions and activity can affect whether income is treated as trading.
Use your total sales through each relevant digital platform for the calendar year.
Enter completed goods transactions for the year.
Use the gross amount received, not your profit.
VAT uses a rolling 12-month period rather than only your accounting year or tax year.
Include supplies that count towards VAT-taxable turnover.
Used to flag the separate forward-looking VAT test.
MTD qualifying income can include combined gross income from self-employment and property.
Enter relevant gross self-employment and property income.
Select the implementation year you want to assess.
Your trading, platform-reporting, VAT and MTD positions will appear here.
£1,000 Gross-Income Check
Enter your gross trading income to check this threshold.
Sales and Amount Check
Enter your platform sales activity to check whether information may be reportable.
£90,000 Rolling-Turnover Check
Enter your VAT-taxable turnover to assess your position.
£50,000 Qualifying-Income Check
Enter your qualifying income to check the selected mandatory MTD threshold.
A platform sharing your sales details with HMRC does not automatically mean your activity is taxable or that you owe tax.
What Does the HMRC Sales & Tax Threshold Checker Do?
The SellerStack HMRC Sales & Tax Threshold Checker helps UK online sellers compare their figures with four important sets of rules:
- The £1,000 Trading Allowance
- Digital-platform seller reporting
- The £90,000 VAT registration threshold
- Making Tax Digital for Income Tax
These rules measure different things and can become relevant at different stages of a reselling business.
Reviewed: October 2026
HMRC rules, thresholds, filing requirements and implementation dates can change.
SellerStack periodically reviews the assumptions used by this checker, but the result should be treated as general guidance rather than a determination of your tax position.
Four Different Thresholds — Four Different Questions
Numbers such as £1,000, 30 sales, approximately £1,700, £20,000, £30,000, £50,000 and £90,000 are often discussed together online.
They do not represent one tax system or one point at which tax suddenly becomes payable.
£1,000 Gross-Income Check
Helps assess whether relevant gross trading income has moved beyond the Trading Allowance level.
Sales & Amount Check
Looks at whether a digital platform may need to report seller information to HMRC.
£90,000 Taxable-Turnover Check
Assesses the rolling and forward-looking VAT registration tests.
Qualifying-Income Check
Helps identify when MTD for Income Tax may become mandatory for eligible sole traders and landlords.
Platform reporting is not the same as owing tax
A marketplace sending information about your sales to HMRC does not automatically mean that the sales are taxable or that you owe a particular amount.
Whether tax is due depends on the nature of the activity and the relevant tax rules.
How to Use the HMRC Threshold Checker
1. Enter Gross Trading Income
Use income from genuine trading activity before deducting stock, selling fees, postage, packaging and other business costs.
2. Describe Your Selling Activity
Indicate whether you buy or make products to sell for profit, mainly sell your own unwanted possessions, or do a mixture of both.
3. Enter Platform Sales
Add the number of completed goods sales and the amount received through the relevant digital platform for the calendar year.
4. Enter VAT-Taxable Turnover
Use VAT-taxable turnover for the previous rolling 12 months and the amount you expect in the separate next-30-day test.
5. Enter MTD Qualifying Income
Use relevant gross income from self-employment and property and select the MTD implementation year you want to assess.
6. Read Each Result Separately
Do not use the outcome of one threshold to infer the result of another.
Understanding the £1,000 Trading Allowance
The Trading Allowance can provide relief for eligible individuals with relevant trading or miscellaneous income.
The important point for the initial threshold check is that the £1,000 figure relates to gross relevant income rather than profit after expenses.
Suppose a reseller receives:
- £1,400 in sales income
- £650 in stock and selling costs
- £750 remaining before other tax considerations
The initial Trading Allowance comparison uses the £1,400 gross-income figure, not the £750 remaining after those costs.
Exceeding the gross-income level can mean you need to review your reporting position, but it does not mean every pound received becomes taxable.
Taxable profit can depend on allowable expenses, reliefs, the Trading Allowance and your wider tax circumstances.
The Trading Allowance Is Not £1,000 Per Marketplace
Using several selling platforms does not normally create a separate £1,000 Trading Allowance for each one.
| Platform | Gross Trading Income |
|---|---|
| eBay | £700 |
| Vinted | £450 |
| Facebook Marketplace | £300 |
| Total | £1,450 |
For the Trading Allowance check, the relevant trading activity needs to be considered together rather than treating each marketplace as having its own allowance.
Selling Personal Possessions vs Trading
Selling your own unwanted possessions is not automatically the same as carrying on a trade.
Decluttering Existing Possessions
Examples can include old clothing, household items, furniture, toys or electronics originally bought for personal use.
Buying or Making to Sell for Profit
Regularly sourcing inventory, making products for sale or operating with a commercial profit-making intention is more likely to resemble trading.
Many sellers use the same marketplace for both personal decluttering and profit-focused reselling.
Keep records that identify which transactions relate to personal possessions and which relate to trading activity.
What Are the Digital-Platform Reporting Limits?
UK digital-platform operators can be required to collect and report information about sellers to HMRC.
For sellers of goods, the usual reporting exclusion applies only where both of these conditions are satisfied:
- Fewer than 30 sales of goods in the calendar year
- Less than €2,000 received for those sales
HMRC commonly describes €2,000 as approximately £1,700.
The formal reporting amount is denominated in euros, so the approximate sterling figure should not be treated as a permanently fixed exchange-rate threshold.
Why 30 Sales Does Not Mean “30 Sales Tax-Free”
The 30-sale figure is a platform-reporting rule. It is not:
- A £1,000 Trading Allowance replacement
- A tax-free number of marketplace transactions
- A calculation of taxable profit
- An automatic Self Assessment threshold
- Proof that tax is or is not due
A seller could complete 20 sales but receive £4,000.
Another seller could complete 35 small sales but receive only £900.
Platform-reporting treatment and the seller’s actual tax position still need to be considered separately.
Revenue, Profit and Taxable Profit Are Different
Revenue / Gross Income
The money received from customers before deducting business expenses.
Commercial Profit
What remains after stock and relevant selling costs have been deducted for business-analysis purposes.
VAT-Taxable Turnover
The turnover that counts towards the VAT registration test, assessed under VAT rules.
Taxable Profit
The amount determined under the relevant tax rules after applying eligible expenses, allowances and adjustments.
Need to Calculate Commercial Reselling Profit?
Use the Resale Profit Calculator to estimate profit, margin and ROI after stock, selling, postage and other costs.
VAT Registration Threshold for UK Sellers
VAT registration is separate from the Trading Allowance and digital-platform reporting rules.
A UK business generally needs to register for VAT when either:
- VAT-taxable turnover for the previous rolling 12 months goes over £90,000
- It expects VAT-taxable turnover to go over £90,000 in the next 30 days
A business could have £95,000 of VAT-taxable turnover and very substantial stock and operating expenses.
Those costs do not simply reduce the turnover figure to determine whether the registration threshold has been crossed.
What Does Rolling 12 Months Mean?
The historical VAT test is not limited to a calendar year, tax year or accounting year.
Growing businesses need to monitor the most recent continuous 12-month period.
You might review:
- 1 August 2025 to 31 July 2026
- 1 September 2025 to 31 August 2026
- 1 October 2025 to 30 September 2026
As each month ends, the 12-month window moves forward.
Need to Add or Remove VAT?
Use the SellerStack UK VAT Calculator to calculate VAT-exclusive, VAT-inclusive and VAT-component amounts.
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax is being introduced in stages for eligible sole traders and landlords.
| Qualifying Income | Mandatory Start |
|---|---|
| More than £50,000 | 6 April 2026 |
| More than £30,000 | 6 April 2027 |
| More than £20,000 | 6 April 2028 |
What Is MTD Qualifying Income?
Qualifying income can include gross income from self-employment and property before expenses and tax.
Where both sources exist, they may need to be combined when determining the relevant MTD start point.
- Gross self-employment income: £24,000
- Gross property income: £10,000
- Combined qualifying income: £34,000
That combined figure can be relevant to the MTD threshold for the appropriate implementation year, subject to the detailed HMRC rules.
Those within scope generally need compatible software to maintain required digital records and send quarterly updates to HMRC, as well as completing the required year-end tax process.
Worked Example: Part-Time Online Reseller
| Figure | Amount |
|---|---|
| Gross trading income | £4,800 |
| Marketplace sales | 72 |
| Amount received through platform | £4,800 |
| VAT-taxable turnover | £4,800 |
| MTD qualifying income | £4,800 |
Trading Allowance
Gross trading income is above £1,000, so the seller should review the relevant HMRC reporting and profit-calculation rules.
Platform Reporting
The activity is above the usual goods-seller reporting exclusion. The platform may therefore report information about the seller to HMRC.
VAT
£4,800 is far below the current £90,000 VAT registration threshold.
Making Tax Digital
£4,800 of qualifying income is below the mandatory MTD thresholds shown above.
The same seller can therefore be above one or two checks while remaining far below the others.
What to Do When the Checker Says “Action May Be Required”
A warning does not mean the calculator has determined that you owe a particular amount of tax.
1. Recheck the Figures Entered
Make sure you have not confused gross income, profit, calendar-year platform activity, tax-year income or VAT turnover.
2. Download Marketplace Statements
Obtain transaction and payment records from the platforms you use.
3. Separate Personal and Trading Sales
Identify which transactions relate to selling your own possessions and which relate to profit-focused activity.
4. Organise Business Expenses
Record stock, selling fees, postage, packaging, advertising, software and other relevant costs separately.
5. Check the Relevant GOV.UK Guidance
Use the official guidance for the particular threshold that has become relevant rather than relying on a social-media summary.
6. Get Professional Advice Where Needed
An accountant or tax adviser can be useful where your position involves substantial turnover, several income sources, overseas activity or historic reporting issues.
Records UK Online Sellers Should Keep
Good records make every threshold easier to assess.
- Sale date
- Item description
- Selling price
- Buyer postage received
- Refunds and returns
- Marketplace fees
- Payment-processing charges
- Advertising costs
- Original stock cost
- Postage and packaging expenses
- Relevant sourcing or business expenses
- Platform statements
- Bank or payment-provider records
- Whether the transaction was personal or trading
Do not wait until January to reconstruct hundreds of transactions. Keeping records throughout the year makes it much easier to understand both commercial performance and HMRC reporting obligations.
Common HMRC Threshold Mistakes Online Sellers Make
1. Assuming Platform Reporting Means Tax Is Owed
Reporting determines what information a platform may send to HMRC. It does not calculate your tax liability.
2. Using Profit for the £1,000 Check
The initial Trading Allowance comparison concerns relevant gross income rather than profit after expenses.
3. Treating 30 Sales as a Tax-Free Limit
The transaction figure belongs to digital-platform reporting, not to the Trading Allowance.
4. Automatically Treating Personal Sales as Trading
Selling your own unwanted possessions is not automatically the same as buying or making goods to sell for profit.
5. Treating Every Marketplace Separately
Relevant trading income may need to be considered across multiple marketplaces and activities.
6. Confusing VAT Turnover With Profit
VAT registration is based on VAT-taxable turnover rather than what remains after stock and operating expenses.
7. Using a Tax Year for the VAT Rolling Test
The historical VAT test uses the previous rolling 12 months, not simply 6 April to 5 April.
8. Ignoring Property Income for MTD
Relevant self-employment and property income can both form part of MTD qualifying income.
9. Assuming a Platform Statement Is a Tax Return
Marketplace information can help with records but does not replace the seller’s responsibility to establish the correct tax figures.
10. Waiting Until a Threshold Has Been Exceeded
Monitoring income and turnover throughout the year makes it easier to prepare before an obligation becomes relevant.
SellerStack HMRC Threshold Checklist
- I have separated personal sales from trading activity.
- I know my gross trading income.
- I have combined relevant trading income across platforms.
- I understand that the £1,000 figure is a gross-income check.
- I know my calendar-year marketplace transaction count.
- I know how much I received through each platform.
- I understand that platform reporting does not equal tax due.
- I am monitoring VAT-taxable turnover on a rolling basis.
- I have considered the separate next-30-day VAT test.
- I know my relevant MTD qualifying income.
- I keep receipts, statements and supporting records.
- I will check official guidance when a threshold becomes relevant.
Continue With UK Tax, Records & Business Guidance
Explore SellerStack tools and guides covering VAT, HMRC, record-keeping and the business side of online reselling.
HMRC Sales & Tax Threshold Checker FAQs
Is there a new tax on eBay, Vinted or other marketplace sellers?
Digital-platform reporting rules do not create a separate tax simply because you use an online marketplace. Existing tax rules determine whether income or gains are taxable.
Do I automatically pay tax after making 30 sales?
No. Thirty sales relates to the digital-platform reporting exclusion for sellers of goods. It is not an automatic tax threshold.
Is the platform-reporting amount exactly £1,700?
No. The formal amount is €2,000. HMRC commonly describes this as approximately £1,700.
Do I have to pay tax when I sell my old clothes?
Selling your own unwanted possessions is not automatically trading. The position is different where items are bought or made with the intention of selling them for profit.
Is the £1,000 Trading Allowance based on profit?
No. The initial £1,000 comparison concerns relevant gross income before deducting business expenses.
Can I claim expenses if my income is over £1,000?
Depending on your circumstances and eligibility, you may need to compare claiming allowable expenses with using the Trading Allowance. The allowance and actual expenses are not normally both deducted against the same income.
Does each selling platform have its own £1,000 allowance?
No. The Trading Allowance is not normally multiplied by the number of marketplaces you use.
Does this checker calculate how much Income Tax I owe?
No. It checks threshold positions. It does not calculate final Income Tax, National Insurance, VAT payable or taxable profit.
Do I register for VAT when profit reaches £90,000?
No. The compulsory VAT registration tests concern VAT-taxable turnover, not profit after expenses.
What is the current UK VAT registration threshold?
The current compulsory registration threshold is £90,000 of VAT-taxable turnover, subject to the detailed HMRC rules and separate historical and forward-looking tests.
When does Making Tax Digital for Income Tax apply?
For eligible taxpayers, mandatory MTD for Income Tax is being phased in for qualifying income over £50,000 from April 2026, over £30,000 from April 2027 and over £20,000 from April 2028.
Are the tax year and calendar year the same?
No. UK Income Tax generally uses the tax year from 6 April to 5 April, while digital-platform reporting uses the calendar year. VAT turnover has its own rolling-12-month test.
Is the SellerStack HMRC Threshold Checker free?
Yes. The checker and SellerStack’s other reseller tools are free to use.
Treat Each HMRC Threshold as a Separate Check
The £1,000 Trading Allowance, platform-reporting rules, VAT registration threshold and Making Tax Digital requirements answer different questions.
Keep personal sales separate from trading, monitor gross income and turnover regularly and maintain records across every marketplace you use.
When the checker highlights a threshold, use that result as a prompt to review the relevant official guidance rather than as a calculation of tax due.
Use the Checker as a Planning and Awareness Tool
The SellerStack HMRC Sales & Tax Threshold Checker provides general educational guidance based on the figures entered and the threshold rules configured in the tool.
It does not determine whether your activity legally constitutes trading, calculate taxable profit, calculate tax or National Insurance due, determine VAT liability, establish exemptions or replace professional tax advice.
Special rules can apply depending on your legal structure, income sources, residence, overseas activity, VAT treatment and other circumstances.
SellerStack is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by HM Revenue & Customs.
Verify important decisions using current GOV.UK guidance or seek advice from a suitably qualified tax professional where necessary.
Keep the Numbers Organised as Your Reselling Business Grows
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