Buying and selling privately

[TriplePly]

CaptainSlow said:

Adamround123 said:

Hi all, I want to start buying and selling cheap motors, say around the £500 mark,
Just want to know how many can I do a year as I'm not a trader/dealer?
And also how many do you buy and sell and have you ever had any bother from the tax man?
Cheers

Offically you can sell up to 12 cars per year before becoming a trader, or one per month. In years with 13 months this is increased to 13 per annum accordingly.

If these are all Alfas you can double it to 24 as this is considered normal Alfa ownership, the caveat is that when sold the car has to be missing a major component ie engine or gearbox.

The tax rules state that cars with a CO2 emissions lower that 110 (or engine sizes smaller than 1.6l for pre 2001 registered cars) are not included in this calculation.

White Audis count double, unless sold in an unwashed state as they qualify for the grey market.

This is all great advice but make sure you call HMRC to get the most out of the VAT as well. As a semi-trader you qualify for the Dealer VAT scheme 2A. Basically you get to claim back the VAT on all cars you buy as well as any VAT that would have been charged on sales, providing the car is sold for less than a thousand pounds.

Just give them a call on 0300 200 3700 quoting Dealer VAT scheme 2A. This isn't a widely known scheme so if the first person you speak to doesn't recognise it, escalate it to a manager and explain what you are doing. HMRC are there to help you pay the least amount of tax as possible.

[Howroyd]

CaptainSlow said:

Offically you can sell up to 12 cars per year before becoming a trader, or one per month. In years with 13 months this is increased to 13 per annum accordingly.

If these are all Alfas you can double it to 24 as this is considered normal Alfa ownership, the caveat is that when sold the car has to be missing a major component ie engine or gearbox.

The tax rules state that cars with a CO2 emissions lower that 110 (or engine sizes smaller than 1.6l for pre 2001 registered cars) are not included in this calculation.

White Audis count double, unless sold in an unwashed state as they qualify for the grey market.

At last, some sense! I have been waiting for someone to actually quote HMRC guidelines, and it took a whole page of comments for someone to chirp up.

There was an amendment for this financial year however, and that was as follows

'Any sale of 'Great Wall' cars will incur immediate short term imprisonment and subsequent branding of individual as a communist'

[Ozzie Osmond]

DuraAce said:

Surely if you are buying and selling in order to make a profit then by definition you are a trader.

Yes, it's as simple as that.