If Vinted has just asked for your National Insurance number, you're not in trouble and you haven't been sent a tax bill. The app is following reporting rules that started in 2024. Whether you actually owe tax is a separate question, and for most people selling their own clothes the answer is no. Our checker shows how much you can sell on Vinted before tax and gives you your own answer in about a minute.
Why is Vinted asking for my National Insurance number?
Since 1 January 2024, UK law has required online selling platforms to collect details about their sellers and report them to HMRC. The rules come from an international agreement, so Vinted, eBay, Etsy and Depop all do the same thing. Vinted asks for your National Insurance number so HMRC can match the report to the right person.
The app only reports you if, on that app, in a calendar year (January to December), you:
- make 30 or more sales of goods, or
- receive about £1,700 (€2,000) or more after the app's fees.
If you stay under both, the app doesn't have to send your details.
What Vinted sends HMRC
The report contains your details, including your National Insurance number, and how much you were paid for your sales, broken down into quarters of the calendar year.
- Each year's report covers January to December.
- The report reaches HMRC by 31 January the following year. The first reports, covering 2024, were sent by 31 January 2025.
- Vinted must give you a copy of what it reported.
The Vinted tax rules guide sets out the reporting rules in full.
Reported is not taxed
GOV.UK is clear on this: a platform reporting your details to HMRC does not automatically mean you owe tax. Whether you owe anything depends on two things.
What you're selling. Clearing out clothes, toys or furniture that you or your family used is selling personal possessions. That usually isn't trading, so there's usually no Income Tax to pay, however many things you sell. The one exception is a single item or set that sells for more than £6,000, which may need a Capital Gains Tax check.
How much you take, if you're trading. If you buy things to sell on, or make things to sell, HMRC is likely to see that as trading. The first £1,000 of trading income each tax year is covered by the £1,000 trading allowance. Over that, you usually need to register as self-employed and pay tax on your profit.
Our guide to do you have to pay tax on Vinted walks through five worked examples.
Is it safe to give Vinted your National Insurance number?
The app is required to collect it, and apps can restrict accounts that don't provide the details they ask for. Before you enter it:
- Only enter it inside the Vinted app or on the Vinted website, never through a link in an email or text message.
- You don't need to send it to HMRC separately. HMRC already has it.
If a message asking for your details looks odd, check it through the app itself rather than replying to it.
What to do next
- You only sell your own things: you likely have nothing to send HMRC. Keep a simple note of what you sold and where it came from, in case you're ever asked. The checker can email you a free record sheet to make this quick.
- You bought or made things to sell: work out what buyers paid you in each tax year (6 April to 5 April). Vinted's yearly summary runs January to December, so it won't match the tax year exactly.
- You've had a letter from HMRC: read what to do about an HMRC nudge letter.
Three things people get wrong
- "30 sales means I'm a business." No. 30 sales is when the app reports you, not a tax rule. Whether you're trading depends on what you sell and why, which HMRC judges using the badges of trade.
- "Vinted is taking tax from my sales." No. Selling apps don't take Income Tax from your payouts.
- "HMRC will send me a bill." A report is information, not a bill. HMRC may write to sellers whose reports suggest they're trading and haven't told it, and a letter still doesn't by itself mean you owe tax.