Selling online or earning on an app: what the ATO already knows
A garage clear-out on Marketplace, a few shifts delivering food, a spare room on a booking site, or handmade earrings on Etsy: the line between spare cash and taxable income is blurrier online, and the ATO now gets data from the platforms in the middle.
That doesn't mean everything you sell is taxable. It means the ATO can see more of it, so the records behind your numbers matter more.
Selling your own things
Clearing out clothes, furniture or an old phone isn't a business, and what you get for them generally isn't income. For capital gains tax, a gain on a personal use asset is disregarded if it cost you $10,000 or less, and capital losses on personal use assets are ignored altogether. Collectables such as art, jewellery and stamps have their own lower threshold.
When selling becomes a business
The ATO's test is about pattern and purpose: if you earn money through continuous and repeated activities for the purpose of making a profit, you are probably running a business. Its own examples include a home that "has become more like a warehouse" stocked with goods to sell, and content creators earning money or receiving gifts.
A one-off transaction generally isn't a business, unless it's the first step in carrying one on or you intend to repeat it.
Once it is a business, the income goes in your return and you can claim the costs of earning it. Depending on turnover, you may also need an ABN and, above the GST threshold, to register for GST.
What the platforms tell the ATO
Two separate data flows reach the ATO:
- The Sharing Economy Reporting Regime (SERR). Electronic distribution platforms report transactions twice a year. It started on 1 July 2023 for ride-sourcing and short-term accommodation, and expanded on 1 July 2024 to other reportable transactions: services, asset hire, task-based work, digital goods such as eBooks and software, and tips. Transfers of ownership of goods are not reportable under the SERR, so ordinary sales of physical items fall outside it.
- Online selling data matching. The ATO also collects data from online marketplaces about registered sellers whose annual sales reach $12,000, for the 2018–19 to 2025–26 financial years, and compares it with what those sellers declared.
Neither means you owe tax. Both mean income left out of a return is likely to be noticed, and the records you kept are what show which of it was taxable and what it cost you.
The records that matter
If your selling or app work is a business, or produces income you declare, keep:
- Income records: platform statements and payout reports.
- Costs: receipts for stock or materials, platform and payment fees, postage and packaging, and equipment you use for the activity.
- Private versus business use: for things you use both ways, such as your phone or car, how you worked out the business share. See splitting receipts between business and personal.
Keep them for 5 years from the date you lodge the return they support. If some are missing, see claiming deductions without receipts.
Sources
Common questions
Do I pay tax on selling my old stuff online in Australia?
Usually not. Selling your own used belongings is generally not income, and a gain on a personal use asset that cost you $10,000 or less is disregarded for capital gains tax. It becomes taxable when it looks like a business: buying to resell, making things to sell, or selling continuously and repeatedly to make a profit.
Does eBay or Airbnb report my income to the ATO?
Platforms that facilitate services, short-term accommodation, ride-sourcing, asset hire and digital goods report transactions to the ATO twice a year under the Sharing Economy Reporting Regime. Sales of goods, where ownership passes to the buyer, are not reportable under that regime, but the ATO separately collects data from online marketplaces about sellers with $12,000 or more in annual sales.
When is a side hustle a business?
The ATO says that if you earn money through continuous and repeated activities for the purpose of making a profit, it's likely you're running a business. A one-off transaction generally isn't, unless it's the first step in carrying on a business or meant to be repeated.
What records should an online seller keep?
Records of what you earned, and receipts for what you spent to earn it: stock or materials, platform and payment fees, postage and packaging, and equipment. Keep them for five years from when you lodge the return they relate to.
Every figure on this page is checked against the ATO's own guidance and linked in the sources above. Last checked . Thresholds change each tax year, so if you are reading this well after that date, confirm the current figures before you rely on them. Terms.
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