How to Declare Your Vinted Income on Self Assessment Tax Return

If you sold on Vinted between 6 April 2025 and 5 April 2026 and your trading sales went over £1,000, you need to put them on your 2025/26 Self Assessment return by 31 January 2027. That does not mean every pound in your Vinted balance. Only some of it belongs on the return, and the rest of this post shows you which part, where it goes and what to claim against it.

Which Vinted sales do I have to declare?

You only have to declare Vinted sales of items you bought to resell or made to sell, because that is trading. Selling your own belongings is not.

Clearing out your wardrobe and selling clothes for less than you paid is not usually taxable, and HMRC's guidance, Selling online and paying taxes, says the same. Buying from charity shops, car boot sales or wholesalers to sell on for a profit is different. So is making things to sell. Those sales are trading income.

Most of the Vinted sellers I speak to do both, from the same account. That is fine, but it means you have to split your sales history into two lists before you can work out a single figure for your return. If you are not sure which side of the line you are on, my guide to whether you pay tax on Vinted sales walks through it.

Do I need to declare Vinted income if I earned under £1,000?

You do not need to declare Vinted trading income if your trading sales were £1,000 or less in the 2025/26 tax year, because the £1,000 Trading Allowance covers it in full.

The £1,000 is measured on your sales before costs, not on your profit. A seller who sold £1,400 of resale stock that cost £900 has made £500 profit, but has still gone over £1,000 and needs to file. The allowance is also shared across all your trading, so if you sell on eBay and Etsy as well, add those sales together.

What figure do I put on my tax return for Vinted?

The figure you put on your tax return is the total sale price of your trading items, for sales completed between 6 April 2025 and 5 April 2026.

Here is what that figure includes, and what it does not:

• Include the price each buyer paid for your resale or handmade items.

• Leave out the Buyer Protection fee. The buyer pays that to Vinted, and it never belongs to you.

• Leave out postage the buyer paid. On Vinted the buyer pays the carrier through the app, so it is not your income.

• Leave out any sale that was refunded or cancelled.

• Leave out your own belongings, as above.

Use the date each sale completed and the money reached your Vinted balance, not the date you withdrew it to your bank. Vinted does not charge standard sellers a selling fee, so for most sellers the sale price and the amount credited to the balance are the same.

Do not simply copy the total Vinted reports to HMRC, either. Vinted reports sellers who make 30 or more sales or earn over €2,000 (about £1,700) in a calendar year, according to Vinted's own reporting page. A calendar year runs January to December, the tax year runs April to April, and Vinted's figure mixes your own belongings in with your stock. Your figure will often be different. What matters is that you can explain the difference from your records.

Where does Vinted income go on the Self Assessment return?

Vinted trading income goes in the self-employment section of your Self Assessment return, as the turnover of your business.

If your turnover was under £90,000, you complete the short version, which HMRC calls Self-employment (short), or SA103S. The online return asks the same questions as the paper SA103S. These are the steps for the 2025/26 return:

1. Sign in to your HMRC online account at GOV.UK and start your 2025/26 return.

2. Tell HMRC you were self-employed when the return asks which income you had. If you have a job, you will also complete the employment section from your P60.

3. Describe the business. Something like "online sales of second-hand clothing" is enough. You do not need a business name.

4. Answer the start date question. The 2025/26 form asks whether your business started after 5 April 2025. If it did, enter the date you made your first resale.

5. Enter your accounts date as 5 April 2026, and leave the traditional accounting box unticked. The cash basis is the default for sole traders, and it is the simplest way to record Vinted sales.

6. Enter your trading sales as turnover (box 9 on the paper form).

7. Claim either the Trading Allowance or your expenses. The Trading Allowance goes in box 10.1, as £1,000. Your expenses go in box 20 as one total, because your turnover is under £90,000. HMRC's notes say that if you claim the allowance, you cannot deduct any expenses.

8. Check the calculation before you submit. HMRC works out your income tax and any Class 4 National Insurance from your profit and your salary.

Should I claim the £1,000 Trading Allowance or my costs?

You should claim whichever is bigger, the £1,000 Trading Allowance or your actual selling costs, because you cannot claim both in the same tax year.

For resellers, actual costs often win, because stock is usually the biggest cost. Costs you can claim against your Vinted sales include:

• stock you bought to resell, such as charity shop, car boot or wholesale buys

• materials for things you make

• packaging, mailing bags, tape and printer labels

• Bumps and Wardrobe Spotlight, if you pay to promote your listings

• postage you pay yourself, for example on returns

• mileage to source stock or drop off parcels, at 45p a mile for 2025/26

• the business share of your phone, if you use it to list and message buyers

If you have kept no receipts, you can still rebuild a claim from your bank statements and order confirmations. My guide to filing with no records shows how, and my list of commonly missed sole trader expenses is worth a look before you settle on a figure.

Worked example: a Vinted reseller with a full-time job

Amy is a composite example. She works full time on a salary of £30,000 and buys clothes from charity shops to resell on Vinted. Between 6 April 2025 and 5 April 2026, her Vinted sales history shows £3,800 of sales. Of that, £600 was her own clothes, which she leaves out.

Amy's actual costs of £1,334 are more than the £1,000 allowance, so she claims her costs and pays £66.80 less tax. On her return she enters £3,200 as turnover and £1,334 as total expenses.

Her salary already uses her £12,570 Personal Allowance, so all of her £1,866 profit is taxed at the 20% basic rate. Her total income of £31,866 is well under the £50,270 higher rate threshold. Her profit is under £12,570, so she pays no Class 4 National Insurance. Her bill of £373.20 is under £1,000, so there is no payment on account either. She pays £373.20 by 31 January 2027.

Amy has one more choice. Because she is employed and owes less than £3,000, if she files online by 30 December 2026 she can ask HMRC to collect the £373.20 through her tax code during 2027/28 instead of paying it in one go.

If Amy were a Scottish taxpayer, Scottish income tax rates would apply to her profit, so her bill would be slightly higher.

What if I missed the 5 October registration deadline?

If you missed the 5 October 2026 deadline to register for Self Assessment, register now and still file and pay by 31 January 2027.

HMRC's improved registration service, launched on 9 September 2026, puts your Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) in your personal tax account within 72 hours, compared with up to 15 days by post before. You can register for Self Assessment on GOV.UK as a sole trader in your own name.

A penalty for late registration is based on tax that is unpaid, so if your return is filed and your tax paid in full by 31 January 2027, a late registration on its own does not normally cost you anything. My guide to the 5 October deadline goes through what happens if you leave it later than that. If Vinted has asked for your National Insurance number, my post on why Vinted is asking for your National Insurance number explains what it does with it.

How do I make next year's Vinted return easier?

Next year's Vinted return is much quicker if you record each trading sale and each cost as it happens, and mark your own belongings as personal at the time you sell them.

Rebuilding a year of Vinted sales in January is the slow part of this return. Splitting personal items from stock months later, from memory, is where most of the guesswork comes in. A few minutes a week during 2026/27 means your next figure is already done by 5 April 2027. The 2026/27 Online Seller Tax Template has a personal item flag for exactly this reason.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to declare Vinted sales of my own clothes?

No. Selling your own belongings for less than you paid for them is not trading, so it does not go on your Self Assessment return. Only items you bought to resell or made to sell count.

Where does Vinted income go on the tax return?

Vinted trading income goes in the self-employment section of your Self Assessment return as turnover. If your turnover was under £90,000, that is the short self-employment page (SA103S), box 9 on the paper form.

Do I declare the amount Vinted reported to HMRC?

Not automatically. Vinted reports by calendar year and includes your own belongings, while your return covers 6 April to 5 April and only your trading sales. Declare your own figure and keep records that explain any difference.

Can I claim the £1,000 Trading Allowance and my costs?

No. You claim either the £1,000 Trading Allowance or your actual costs, whichever is bigger. HMRC's notes say that if you claim the allowance, you cannot deduct any expenses.

Is the Vinted Buyer Protection fee part of my income?

No. The buyer pays the Buyer Protection fee to Vinted, so it is not part of your sales. Postage the buyer pays through the app is not your income either.

What if I missed the 5 October registration deadline?

Register for Self Assessment now. HMRC says your UTR now arrives in your personal tax account within 72 hours, and if you file and pay in full by 31 January 2027, a late registration on its own does not normally lead to a penalty.

This article is for general information only and isn't tax or legal advice. Your circumstances may be different. For personalised advice, speak to a qualified accountant.

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