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Since lockdown I've sold off a lot of old warhammer while at the same time have been increasing the size of my own armies and Blood Bowl teams. I've also started to have a fair bit of success buying/reselling large wargaming lots. I'm a business seller on eBay and already registered with HMRC as a sole trader. I was wondering if anyone here also did this. If so, what do your expense sheets look like? Do you include things like dettol and polystyrene cement or even paint for touching up models? I've had to use all of these to get some miniatures into a presentable state, including using my own spare pieces to complete a model. How do you handle splitting job lots where you also keep some items back for your personal collection?

For example I spent £100 on an army and have sold off about two thirds of it, while keeping some really nice pieces for myself. I've made £110 after ebay/paypal fees. Would you just record this as a £10 profit or would you come up with a value for the kept items and deduct that from the expenses? In my other business I'd do the latter, but in that business I'm not dealing with partially blind purchases of items of a negotiable value which may even need repairing before I decide to sell/keep them! I don't know the value of an OOP dark elf rider that now sits in my collection, something which in the last 90 days on ebay alone has had a sale price between 66p and £3.33.

Thanks in advance.

Wichever way benefits you more tax-wise. Do that.

You should value the items you sell. If you spent $100 on models and kept $35 for personal use, then your cost for those models were $65. If there were costs associated with fixing them up like glue and green stuff, add what you paid for that as well. It will only matter if you have a large discrepancy or volume in your sales. If you show a slight profit, you won't draw the eyes of your tax authority (IRS/ State tax). In the US, you cannot deduct business expenses on a hobby which doesn't make a profit for 3 of 5 years. So as long as you're profitable in 2 of 5 years, deduct away!

My advice, as you're in the UK, would be to not listen to those quoting US tax laws. Go find an accountant, or someone else in the profession in the UK, and see if they'll advise you pro bono. Citizens Advice Bureau may be able to point you in the right direction.

I've done self employed work and expenses and theres a certain level I was told 4 grand where it isn't worth them checking but equally check the website and read it up. I know I have claimed various business expenses but as it was below this threshold they didn't question it. Remember these sort of expenses are meant to cover tradesmens tools etc...Theres also a lot of good basic advice on the HMRC website itself read it and check.