Paypal Accounts

[fiction-factory]

Apologies if this is the wrong section, but after watching a C5 programme last night about Fraudsters on Benefits I was wondering whether there is any obligation to report credit balances in a paypal account to the DWP when applying for means tested benefits. I guess there is but I doubt they ask specifically and would DWP ever be able to find out details of your payapal account? Does anyone know?

[Buenchico]

Yes, claimants are required to declare all financial accounts

And probably, yes, there will be a way for the DWP to check. After all, nearly all existing benefits are being merged into Universal Credit and the contract to administer it has been awarded to the Government's preferred contractor - which just happens to be PayPal!

[anaxcrosswords]

Interesting. On that subject, does a PayPal balance only count as earnings if you transfer it to your bank?

[Buenchico]

Whether the money counts as 'earnings' or not is probably determined by how you made it, rather than by where it is.

For example, if you sell stuff on eBay that you originally bought for your own use, but no longer want, HMRC won't regard the money as taxable income (but it will still be counted as 'savings').

However if you buy stuff specifically to resell on eBay (e.g. from a wholesaler, from charity shops or from local auction houses) then HMRC will regard your profit as taxable income, which must be declared as such. It then becomes 'savings' if you don't spend it.

Either way, HMRC (and the DWP) would regard the money in exactly the same way irrespective of whether it was in your PayPal account or transferred to your bank account.

[hc4361]

By the way, I didn't believe half of what the chap in the council flat selling steroids said about his bank accounts.

[fiction-factory]

Yes, I doubt he was telling the truth about that, hc4361- although this and the previous week's programme did show that one can obtain false bank statements, utility bills, etc which are good enough to fool the DWP .

[murraymints]

think regular sellers are now receiving letters from tax man about declared earnings..there must be a threshold on ebay for selling stuff beyond which tax office are informed..friend of mine got tax demand on earnings

[fiction-factory]

That may be the case. I don't think these steroids were being sold via ebay though