28 Mar 2015

'Mum and dad' sellers safe - Trade Me

1:21 pm on 28 March 2015

"Mum and dad" sellers using Trade Me will not be targeted by Inland Revenue, the site says.

The auction website has handed over the personal and trading details of nearly 45,000 of its most frequent users to the IRD.

The tax department issued Trade Me with a legal order demanding the details of customers.

But Trade Me's trust and safety manager John Duffy said he refused IRD's original broad-brush request for information.

He said ordinary sellers were not included in the new request.

"I think it's fair to assume that the IRD's not worried about mums and dads who might be selling a fridge once a year, they're more worried about the sellers at the other end of the scale."

He said it was only right commercial users pay tax and he was not worried about an impact on business.

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