From today, the new Reporting rules for digital platforms policy begins, which affects all UK taxpayers who provide services or sell goods on digital platforms.

The new rules include a range of digital platforms such as eBay and Amazon – but also services providing taxi/private hire services, food delivery and freelance work. These organisations will be required to provide a copy of information on earnings and expenses to the taxpayer, who then will need to check if they need to include this on a tax return and ultimately be liable for additional tax or national insurance.

Regulations start today (1 January 2024) and full reporting is due from January 2025.

What data is shared?

HMRC will be provided with information from the digital platform with details of the full income and expenses values provided to the individual as part of the service. For example, selling items on an auction website which make a profit – HMRC would be provided by a summary of this for taxpayers.

All platforms will be required to identify and verify information on sellers (such as checking their identification and relevant HMRC information (such as NI Numbers)) and therefore use this to report to HMRC on the individual’s transactions with the company.

Thresholds

Digital platforms are required to pass on information where more than 30 transactions take place per year, and have a total earnings over £1,700 (€2,000 equivalent). This information will be provided to HMRC digitally, and they will expect similar figures to appear on a tax return to confirm/clarify the amounts earnt on the relevant platform.