UK taxman set to hammer Amazon, eBay resellers

Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) will force eBay, Amazon and others to disclose details of big traders who are, it seems, not paying tax.

According to the Sunday Times, Amazon and eBay will be forced to tell the HMRC about traders’ names, email addresses and user names.

The online giants will have to hand over the information by the end of the month, or face daily fines.

The HMRC has given the online resellers until June 14th to make a frank and full confession of their activities. If they own up, then the penalties will be 20 percent of the tax they haven’t paid.

If they don’t own up, then HMRC will press for 100 percent penalties and even prosecute them.

The Times article quoted an eBay representative as saying it would turn over all the details that HMRC requested, and stressed that resellers in business on eBay should register for business accounts.