Online traders nudged by HMRC

Individuals who sell or obtain work through an online platform are the target of HMRC’s latest one-to-many letter campaign. Gig economy workers and traders selling online will receive a detailed letter from HMRC asking them to check that they have reported all their income properly and suggesting that they make a digital disclosure if not. The letters have been copied to the taxpayer’s authorised agent if they have one.

An HMRC spokesperson said: ‘This is routine activity. We believe our customers want to pay the right amount of tax so we are taking steps to help people do so. Each year we send out thousands of reminder letters on various areas of tax.’

HMRC expects to send about 2 000 letters to online marketplace traders over a nine-week period the remaining letters will be sent at a later date. It plans to send around 2...