Hi, Someone has been claiming to call the police if we don't pay taxes. We are making about $2,500 a month on the internet and don't take it out of paypal (if that means anything). Can you tell me what rules apply in the US and UK regarding this. Should I be worried ? Really want someone to tell me about this. -Hecky
In the UK, you need to pay tax on your profits, even if they never leave your PayPal account. If you don't make the minimum income tax threshold (not sure what it is exactly but it's about £6000) you still need to declare it with HM Revenue and Customs.
I'm not an accountant, but yes I think legally everything you make needs to be reported (on personal self assessment I think some fields get rounded to the nearest pound). The self assessment website (http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/sa/) will probably be able to tell you what you need to know.
Are you sure that paypal dosent take tax off automatically when it's a business account? Thanks norfstar, will be adding rep soon.
I don't think the tax will be done by PayPal, but I'm not 100% sure on that. But norfstar is right, you have to declare everything you make no matter how little, it will then be decided if you have to pay tax on that or not and how much. This post might help you Link Hope that helps.
If the money PayPal takes on transaction was all the tax that needed to be paid I'd be a very happy person - sadly it's just their fee for being your payment processor. If you're earning $2,500 a month, its probably worth spending some of that money getting yourself an accountant. I currently pay my accountant £350 per year - but they save me much more than that from my tax bill by advising how things should be done.
Every single penny you earn from whatever source must be declared to HMRC. You have a nil rate tax band which runs from 0-£5,035 at which you pay tax at 0% (i.e. nil). That aside, you must still declare everything you earn, in order that your overall tax liability can be calculated. If you were earning online and didn't declare it, you would be saving money, because your nil rate tax band would extend further into your offline income.
well my situation is quiet complicated, I think we will look into getting an accountant for £350/year, if anyone is interested. I don't think I can do this all by myself. Like I say I'm not very old, I didn't think I was old enough to pay taxes.
PM replied to . In the UK if you're old enough to have a PayPal account, you're also old enough to pay taxes.
Not that it matters, but in the USA,you have to report all income (gifts, gambling, whatever). Also, the police have nothing to do with taxes. Our tax entity is the IRS and they have their own enforcement division, which is separate from other entities like the police.
Sorry to bring this up, but I also have some tax questions related to the UK and seemed better than making a new thread. I just started earning money with my website via affiliate programs and I also sell some things. My main query is the things I sell... do I have to pay tax on the entire amount I recieve, or only the profit? For example I pay 15 for something, but sell at 20, so my profit is only 5. Is the tax paid on the 20 or the 5? Does anyone have any advice on what tools to use to keep record of incomings and outgoings.
It is probably about time to start paying taxes once you are making that much. Here in my state all you need to do is have a DBA (Doing Business As) and then you can turn around and file for a Sales Tax ID. If you do the filing yourself, it should only take about $50.00 to get legal. I am speaking for the US in my state of Oklahoma of course.
Tax is paid in the UK on income less deductable expenses (i.e. expenses 'wholly and exclusively' incurred by the business). Therefore, if your sales were £100 and your raw materials cost £25, you would only pay tax on £75 - that is: income - deductable expenses=gross income gross income - personal allowance (was £5035 last year) = taxable income However, when it comes to things like electricity for those who work from home, etc., you need to apportion what is wholly and exclusively pertaining to the business as your expense. So if you use £5 worth for personal use, that is still a taxable £5, and cannot be deducted from the business income. Hope this helps.
So for now, if I reinvest all the money I make into new servers and the like, I wont have to pay tax? (Taking nothing for myself)
Equipment, (Servers and the like) generally, although not always have to be "depreciated" over several years. This can be very complicated as there are a number of formulas to compute this. The government assigns a "useful life" for a specific type of equipment, and your allowed to deduct a portion of the equipments cost for each year of the useful life... simplified example: $999 server, 3 year useful life, = $333 per year deduction using straight line depreciation. This is in the US, although there is probably a similar concept in the UK... Suffice it to say even if you outlay for new equipment, you may still have a tax due. The laws regarding this are very specific to your area/situation and you need the advice of a competent accountant to keep you out of hot water. When looking for an accountant make sure to find one that is not just a "Book Keeper". A book keeper as we call them here just helps you tally up all of your expenses, etc. and figure out your tax due, etc... (without regard to planning for minimization of taxes). A qualified accountant, here we have CPA's (certified public accountants) will be able to help you structure your business to pay the least amount of tax as legally possible.
Taxes! Yes. You have to pay them. If you don't like taxes, Vote Libertarian. They've been working to cut taxes for ages!