1. Home
  2. UK Finance Discussions
  3. Reselling concert tickets

Reselling concert tickets

Hi everyone, I`ve been discussing this with a friend. Basically he`s thinking about going into buying and selling concert tickets in a big way, to try and make a living out of it. Ignoring the moral side of things, what would be his best way of paying the least tax while still being legal? If he went self-employed for this, would he end up paying his income tax, NI contributions etc based on the difference between the cost price per ticket and the selling price per ticket (his "profit")? Since he`d be buying a lot of his tickets online, would he be able to claim any tax back against computer purchases, bradband costs and the like? I`m not self employed, and have no idea at all of your obligations.

If he had paid for tickets now, but the tickets don`t arrive until after the start of April (and hence he can`t sell them until after April) what are the tax implications? If he pays VAT on the tickets (is VAT chargable on them) can he claim that back also if he registers for VAT? Would this be needed? He said he was planning on spending about 4000-6000 on tickets each month, and can expect to make an average of about 25-50% on the tickets. This would vary depending on what tickets are available etc, but it would give him a monthly profit of at least 1000, maybe as much as 3000 per month, for a total turnover of between 48,000 and 72,000. Would he need to VAT register for this?

If people are unwilling or unable to answer the above questions, does anyone have any idea how good the information supplied by the IR is, and the best way to get it and register for self employment?

Thanks for your help.

Reply to
Simon Finnigan
Loading thread data ...

The VAT registration threshold is fifty something thousand at the moment, so he'd probably have to register. I'm not sure however of the VAT convolutions involved when buying and selling tickets.

The C&E web site will provide answers to most of your VAT questions.

Try going to the IR web site and looking for yourself. You don't really have to 'register' as self employed, you just are self employed and send in your tax returns accordingly.

Reply to
usenet

Well I am guessing after debacles like U2 a lot of bigger acts will do various things to stop touts, other U2 fans have given examples of how REM and Pearl Jam have gotten around touts. So maybe not the ebst amrket to move into unless he is doing it like ticketmaster (i.e legally!)

Reply to
mo

wrote

Well, perhaps that's true if you don't mind paying the IR-imposed penalties, if you don't register within 3 months of starting self-employment?!!

Reply to
Tim

He seems fairly confident that he can get round any system they want to put in place. As he said, the huge acts can try and stop him, the smaller ones (which he seems keen on concentrating on, small acts that sell out quickly) won`t be able to do this for quite some time.

Reply to
Simon Finnigan

Yes

They would be treated as stock at the year end, valued at whatever he paid for them, or whatever he subsequently sells them for, if that is less.

Yes, but he would have to charge VAT on the tickets he sells.

Most likely. The registration threshold is £58,000, so you have to register if your sales are above that.

Reply to
Jonathan Bryce

BeanSmart website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.