Ukrainians are explained how to sell online and not fall under the tax service's radar.

Selling personal items without an individual entrepreneur registration: what sellers should know

The legislation of Ukraine allows citizens to sell used items or other goods without registration as an individual entrepreneur. However, there are important rules that sellers should know.

According to current rules, selling personal items through OLX, Prom, or social networks can be conducted without registering as an individual entrepreneur if it is rare transactions that have no commercial purposes. The main criterion is the lack of systematicity, meaning no more than 2-3 similar transactions per year.

However, there are risks with regular sales, especially when reselling goods or producing and selling handmade items. The tax service may consider such activities as entrepreneurial and hold individuals liable.

If the activity becomes systematic, the tax service may regard it as entrepreneurial and impose liability.

Violating these rules leads to severe sanctions: personal income tax at 18%, a military levy of 1.5% on income, and if the activity is recognized as economic, an additional unified social contribution of 22% will have to be paid.

Fines for conducting business without registration range from 17,000 to 34,000 hryvnias, and in cases of repeated violations, they can reach 85,000 hryvnias. Additionally, a fine of 340 hryvnias may be imposed for the absence of tax accounting, goods or revenue may be confiscated, and in some cases, the case may be handed over to the Bureau of Economic Security.

The tax service actively monitors platforms with fiscal tools, such as OLX Delivery, Nova Poshta (cash on delivery), Prom, and others. These services provide information about transactions, including personal data, amounts, and frequency of sales.

Moreover, the tax service may monitor social networks, particularly the pages of bloggers, but operations with large turnovers prevail, rather than one-Time sales.

Analysis

The legislation of Ukraine develops the online sales sector and allows citizens to freely sell their personal items. However, to avoid problems with the tax service, it is important to comply with the rules and not turn sales into systematic activities. Potential sellers should understand that regular sales or resale of goods may require registration as an individual entrepreneur. The consequences of such activities may include not only tax payments but also fines and other sanctions. However, it should be remembered that the tax service actively controls online sales and uses various tools to detect unreported activities. Therefore, sellers should be responsible and comply with all legislative requirements.