Treasury to start levying fines for selling used clothing and items on Vinted and Wallapop
In the coming weeks, Spaniards selling second-hand items for VintedWallapop, Milanuncios or any other online peer-to-peer trading platform, could be in for a nasty surprise. At best, these will be “fear letters,” those letters the Treasury sends warning them of some failure to file their returns and asking them to amend it with additional returns, and at worst, a fine.
The letter will take more than one person by surprise, since a year ago it could be said that e-commerce between individuals was still living behind the back of the Treasury. But this was corrected in January this year, when the European directive DAC7 (Directive 2021/514) came into force in Spain through Royal Decree 117/2024, which requires platforms for the sale and purchase of second-hand goods to collect, verify, update and transmit to the Treasury the data of certain sellers; what is it?
Specifically, the rule requires platforms to provide the treasury with information about users who have made 2,000 euros in profit in a year or made more than 30 transactions.
As explained Jose Maria MollinedoGeneral Secretary Union of Technical Specialists of the Ministry of Finance (Gestha)The point of the law is to identify those people who have turned the sale of used goods online into a profession. Moreover, according to this expert, the Treasury has found the existence of people who are already real companies, immersed in the cover of e-commerce, who take advantage of department store sales to buy goods at low prices and sell them without paying the proper taxes.
Now those who sold a couple of T-shirts on Vinted or a bicycle on Milanuncios can rest easy; depending on the value of the bicycle, of course. If the amounts provided for by the Directive are exceeded, the platforms will inform the Tax Agency. The problem, explains Mollinedo, is that until now Users are not used to it welland it is possible that the letters from the Ministry of Finance will take many by surprise.
How much will the sanctions cost?
If there is a fine, this expert explains, in most cases it will be 50% of the amount that should have been taxed. He gives us an example: if a person sells a bicycle that cost him 3,000 euros for 4,000 euros, these thousands of euros will be a capital gain, to which In Spain, a 19% tax is applied to income from savings.That is, if we do an operation in Milanuncios and don’t tell the Treasury, we could find ourselves with them demanding 50% of the outstanding savings income, or a smaller amount if we pay on time.
The Directive came into effect in January and applies to transactions carried out in 2023, with the 2023/2024 revenue campaign ending on July 1, so warning letters and penalties for non-compliance could start arriving in late August, although it is expected that the Directive came into effect in January. that the bulk will be processed in September, when the “truce” granted by the Treasury for the summer period ends. For our part, we will have to wait a few months to see how this regulatory change will benefit the state treasury, explains Mollinedo.
The “second-hand goods tax” arose in response to an unusual situation. boom in online sales between individuals in recent years. According to Mangopay, a payment infrastructure provider that services the world’s major platforms (including Wallapop, Vinted and Milanuncios), in Spain The sector has grown by 90% over the past three years.. Moreover, according to a recent report by the US marketplace ThredUp, a global e-commerce giant, the volume of used clothing sales will double by 2027, growing three times faster than the overall market, and will account for 10% of the market. Global textiles. It is logical that European treasuries should have gotten their hands on this business.