IEIM904500 - Information for Sellers

Alongside reporting to HMRC, Reporting Platform Operators (RPOs) must provide a copy of the information to Sellers. This is intended to help Sellers to meet their tax obligations by providing them with the same information that is provided to HMRC, helping them to fill out their tax returns correctly.

This must be provided at least once a year, by 31 January following the end of the reportable period. RPOs may provide information more often if they wish (e.g. quarterly), but they must provide a summary e.g. with the totals provided to HMRC. An RPO cannot meet the obligation by just providing a receipt for each task/ sale made, as this would not support the aim of providing information to Sellers to help them fill out their tax returns more easily.

The format of the statement to Sellers is not prescribed, but it should include the Seller’s identification details, Consideration received, broken down on a quarterly basis, details of the of Relevant Activities performed and any fees, taxes or commissions withheld. More information can be provided if the RPO considers it to be useful. IT should confirm that this is a copy of the same information that has been provided to HMRC.

The method of providing this information is up to the RPO. There is no requirement to separately post the information to each Seller, for example. However, the RPO should take reasonable steps to make sure that the Seller is aware of the information and that it is reasonably accessible. For example, this could be done via an email, a notification in the application, an alert, or such other method that the RPO considers appropriate. The requirement would not be met if the information was made available in an obscure part of the app or website, such that Sellers would not reasonably find it.

There may be circumstances in which an RPO deletes a record for a Seller that has carried out Relevant Activities on the Platform. This may, for example, be at the request of the Seller. The RPO would still be expected to report information about that Seller to HMRC however may experience difficulties providing a copy of that information to the Seller as they may no longer have contact details for them. The RPO may therefore wish to consider providing a summary statement to the Seller, at the point the account is deleted, containing the information they will later be reporting to HMRC.

For some Sellers it will be straightforward to work out how the information provided on the statement relates to the information required for their tax returns. For others it may be more complicated, and they may need to make adjustments for the tax year dates, or for accruals where they do not report on the cash basis. Sellers may need to check guidance on gov.uk, or in more complicated cases seek professional advice.