The Treasury has been monitoring sales on second-hand platforms such as Vinted, eBay and Wallapop since the beginning of the year. From January 1, 2024, and in accordance with Directive 2021/514 (DAC7), platforms are obliged to report users’ movements to the Tax Office as long as they exceed a set of limits. That’s the problem; the measure will have little impact.

What activities are being monitored? Let’s start from the beginning. Platforms like Vinted, Wallapop and the company will have to report on real estate rentals, parking spaces, personal services, sales of goods and rental of all types of transport. But what is important is not the service provided, but the quantity.

What are the limits? If we are resident in the European Union and have earned more than 2,000 euros in income in a calendar year, regardless of the amount, or have sold more than 30 items, the data will be sent. So if we sell second-hand clothing and sell more than 30 items per year, we will have to declare that income.

According to Vinted and Wallapop, this doesn’t mean you have to pay taxes. Vinted states that “the sale of personal items on Vinted is not taxable” and that “if the money you make on Vinted in a year is less than what you paid for the items you sold, you don’t have to pay taxes.” In short, the sale of second-hand items for private purposes should not be subject to personal income tax because it doesn’t generate profit.

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Differences. To be clear, David occasionally selling second-hand t-shirts or games on Wallapop is not the same as David using Wallapop as a sales platform for his small custom t-shirt business. There is no benefit in the first case (assuming that’s the key to the issue), but there certainly is in the second, and that implies paying the corresponding taxes. But things can change, and the status of retro items is remarkable, to say the least.

Because? This is not an arbitrary decision, but part of the European Union’s efforts to combat the shadow economy and fraud. In Spain, the shadow economy is estimated to represent close to 16% of GDP. However, the aim here is not to penalize the occasional user who sells something on these platforms, but rather to find those who carry out commercial/professional activities on these platforms and thus register with the IAE, pay VAT and personal income tax. Therefore, if we do not meet the requirements and fill out the relevant forms, our account will be blocked.

Reduced range. At this point, it is reasonable to think that almost no private users will be affected by this measure, and in fact this is the case. In fact, Wallapop estimates that only 1% of its users will reach the limit set by the European directive. Another issue is professional users who use Wallapop, Vinted or eBay as a sales platform, in which case the situation is probably different.

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