02/01/24

UK: Airbnb among firms to share more data in HMRC tax evasion clampdown

As published on: proactiveinvestors.co.uk, Tuesday 2 January, 2024.

Airbnb Inc (NASDAQ:ABNB, ETR:6Z1) is among websites which will be required to share more information with UK authorities this year as part of a bid to clamp down on tax evasion.

Following new legislation on 1 January, the booking marketplace and companies such as eBay Inc, Vinted and Depop, where users can sell their own goods, will have to share details of transactions with His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

Firms will then be obliged to send tax ID, bank account details and transaction values for those who have made enough through the sites to HMRC next January.

"These new rules will support our work to help online sellers get their tax right first time,” an HMRC spokesperson said.

“They will also help us detect any deliberate non-compliance, ensuring a level playing field for all taxpayers.”

The move comes as part of efforts to clamp down on people not paying tax on income from so-called “side hustles”, such as selling old clothes or renting out spare rooms.

HMRC could previously request information from online marketplace operators, but is subject to new rules after the UK joined the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Under these, sites will not have to share information of sellers who make under 30 transactions or less than €2,000 (£1,735) throughout the year.

Vinted chief executive Adam Jay argued many sellers on the site would be unaffected as a result.

"It's actually quite a small proportion of users of our platform who will trigger this threshold,” he said.

"It's only those people who are making a profit from selling second-hand items that might be eligible for tax and then it's about their own personal tax situation.”

If information is collected, this would then be shared with other nations in the OECD to ensure “tax authorities have similar visibility of income for sellers on digital platforms as they would have with traditional businesses”, according to the government.

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UK Airbnb HMRC Tax evasion Tax avoidance