local tackle shops

[mark]

for us there's 2 ways we just about survive, one is by trying to match internet prices, which we can do with some smaller stuff, but for that it means I buy direct from china in bulk which I hate doing, the other is do stuff that no-one else does. So we design and screen print a lot of the shirts we sell. Some have been brilliant sellers... the downside there is that the fact they sell well doesn't go un-noticed so a mixture of both chinese and the 'bedroom businessmen' then decide to rip of my designs. Those in the uk, ebay if you hassle them enough will remove them from sellers listings but it is a very time consuming process. The chinese that rip off a design you can't do a damn thing about, so we move on and try stay ahead of the game with something else

It's all pretty soul destroying. If we could walk away from the lease we would. the guy that owns the building (living in tax free Jersey) doesn't give a damn. If we walked away he'd pursue us legally for the value of the remainder of the lease. All he cares about is that legally, we owe him another 2 years rent, to make him even richer than he is already

The tax man really should make simple demand to ebay for a list of sellers that are registered on ebay as sellers and do a few simple checks

the data protection act is there to give them exactly the powers to do that, but it don't seem to happen.

Nothing wrong at all with folks making a few quid selling stuff on ebay, but if you see someone that clearly has 'stock' at hand by looking at there other items, and have lots of feedback for the same sort of gear, then they are a business, plain and simple and should pay Tax and VAT if applicable like the rest of us.

If you look through ebay fishing tackle listings there are hundreds of folks that are clearly buying and selling for profit, and I bet there's not many of them registered as businesses

[LiamNE]

The tax man really should make simple demand to ebay for a list of sellers that are registered on ebay as sellers and do a few simple checks

the data protection act is there to give them exactly the powers to do that, but it don't seem to happen.

Nothing wrong at all with folks making a few quid selling stuff on ebay, but if you see someone that clearly has 'stock' at hand by looking at there other items, and have lots of feedback for the same sort of gear, then they are a business, plain and simple and should pay Tax and VAT if applicable like the rest of us.

If you look through ebay fishing tackle listings there are hundreds of folks that are clearly buying and selling for profit, and I bet there's not many of them registered as businesses

These checks do happen Mark, I have done these checks myself. The taxman uses special powers under the DPA to get this sort of information and ebay is something that is targeted often.
Inspectors do self source cases but I stress again - most cases for inspection come through from people making the tax man aware and unless somebody complains....it probably isnt going to get looked at.

[Winton]

Its the rich tax dodgers u need to chase seems to only be the poorman the taxman goes after

[LiamNE]

Agreed Winton, I have no experience of working in LBS (large business service) so can't really comment on what goes on. I do sometimes think the little man is being hammered and many times I have thought myself why are we doing this.
I suppose even the small business man has to comply with the law...we do bring in a heck of a lot of money from the "hidden economy" - unregistered businesses like Mark mentioned.

Just again a reminder that any allegation/report to the taxman will be looked at. You can pass this on face to face, letter, telephone...even post a letter through the door of a tax inspector! (if you know one)
If nobody reports it, it may to common knowledge to the surrounding area that "Dave has not registered his business, pays no VAT, does not care who knows" and so on....BUT until somebody officially complains, it may never get picked up so don't leave it to someone else if you want something done about it.