UK sellers, tax year 6 April 2025 to 5 April 2026
Etsy income on UK Self Assessment
HMRC taxes your Etsy profit, and the return starts from your turnover: what buyers paid you, before Etsy’s fees. The payouts in your bank are a smaller number. This page covers what goes in which box of the short self-employment page, the £1,000 trading allowance and the dates for the 2025 to 2026 return.
Dates for the 2025 to 2026 tax year
| What | Deadline |
|---|---|
| Register for Self Assessment, if this is your first return | 5 October 2026 |
| Paper return | 31 October 2026 |
| Online return | 31 January 2027 |
| Pay the tax you owe | 31 January 2027 |
| Second payment on account, if you make them | 31 July 2027 |
The tax year runs from 6 April to 5 April. Etsy’s monthly statements run by calendar month, so a UK year needs thirteen of them: April 2025 (from the 6th) to April 2026 (to the 5th). HMRC also accepts books made up to 31 March.
The £1,000 trading allowance
If your gross trading income in the tax year is £1,000 or less, you may not have to tell HMRC about it. Gross means turnover: your sales before any fees or costs come off, not your profit.
Above £1,000 you report it. You can then deduct the £1,000 allowance (box 10.1 on the short page) instead of your actual expenses, but not both, and the allowance can’t create a loss. With Etsy’s fees, postage and materials, actual expenses are often the larger figure; compare the two.
Turnover is not your payouts
The SA103S notes put it plainly: box 9 is “the total amount of income received … by your business before taking off any expenses.” For an Etsy shop that is the sales, including the postage buyers paid, less refunds. Etsy takes its fees before paying you, so the deposits leave out money that was turnover and then an expense.
Example: buyers paid £12,400 in the year, of which £400 was VAT that Etsy collected on EU orders. You refunded £300 and Etsy’s fees came to £1,900. Turnover is £11,700 (£12,400 less the £400 VAT, less £300 refunds), the fees are £1,900 of expenses, and roughly £9,800 reached your bank. Reporting the £9,800 as turnover would leave the fees out instead of claiming them.
VAT and sales tax Etsy collected as the marketplace, on orders where it does so, appear inside the Sale row and come back out on a Tax row. That money was never yours and isn’t turnover.
Which box on the SA103S
The short self-employment page (SA103S) is for turnover below £90,000. These are the usual homes for Etsy figures on the 2025 to 2026 version:
| Box | Heading on the form | From Etsy and your records |
|---|---|---|
| Box 9 | Your turnover | Sales including postage charged, less refunds, without VAT or sales tax Etsy collected |
| Box 10.1 | Trading income allowance | £1,000, only if you claim it instead of boxes 11 to 20 |
| Box 11 | Costs of goods bought for resale or goods used | Materials, stock and packaging. The full-page notes also list commissions here, so some accountants put Etsy’s transaction fees in this box. |
| Box 12 | Car, van and travel expenses | Business mileage at HMRC’s flat rate, or the business share of actual costs |
| Box 17 | Interest and bank and credit card financial charges | Etsy payment processing fees |
| Box 18 | Phone, fax, stationery and other office costs | Shipping labels bought on Etsy and other postage; HMRC lists postage under office costs |
| Box 19 | Other allowable business expenses | Listing, transaction and regulatory operating fees, VAT on Etsy’s fees if you aren’t VAT-registered, Etsy Ads, Offsite Ads, subscriptions |
| Box 20 | Total allowable expenses | Boxes 11 to 19 added up. Below £90,000 turnover you may enter only this total. |
The short page has no advertising box, so Etsy Ads go in box 19. On the full SA103F page the numbering is different (turnover is box 15, advertising box 24). In box 7, enter the date your accounts run to; anything between 31 March and 5 April 2026 is fine on the short page.
Mileage at HMRC’s flat rate
| Cars and goods vehicles | Before 6 April 2026 | 2026 to 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| First 10,000 business miles in the tax year | 45p | 55p |
| After 10,000 miles | 25p | 25p |
| Motorcycles | 24p | 24p |
You can’t use the flat rate for a vehicle you’ve claimed capital allowances on or already counted as an expense, and once you use it for a vehicle you keep using it.
What Etsy tells HMRC, and Making Tax Digital
Platform reporting. Since the start of 2024, online platforms report sellers’ sales to HMRC. HMRC said it would hear about sellers with at least 30 items sold or about £1,700 (€2,000) in sales in a year. Being reported doesn’t by itself mean you owe tax or need a return; the £1,000 rule above decides that. It does mean HMRC has Etsy’s figures for your shop.
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax means keeping digital records and sending updates to HMRC through compatible software. Whether you have to use it depends on qualifying income: your self-employment and property turnover before expenses.
| Qualifying income | In the tax year | Use MTD from |
|---|---|---|
| Over £50,000 | 2024 to 2025 | 6 April 2026 |
| Over £30,000 | 2025 to 2026 | 6 April 2027 |
| Over £20,000 | 2026 to 2027 | 6 April 2028 |
Sources: GOV.UK, Self Assessment deadlines; Tax-free allowances on property and trading income; SA103S Self-employment (short) 2026 and notes; SA103F notes 2026; Simplified expenses: vehicles; Information for online sellers (4 December 2024); Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (updated 26 March 2026). Last checked 8 October 2026. This explains the rules; for your own return, check with an accountant or HMRC, especially if you are VAT-registered.
More Etsy tax guides
Not affiliated with or endorsed by Etsy, Inc. Etsy is a trademark of Etsy, Inc.; we name it only to say which files the tool reads.