Tax year vs calendar year: splitting Etsy, eBay and Vinted sales on 5 April
Platforms work in calendar years; a UK tax return works in tax years that run from 6 April to 5 April. This page shows how one year of platform figures splits across two tax years, with a worked example, and the rows that most often land in the wrong one.
This is a summary of published rules, not tax advice. What goes on a return depends on your circumstances. If you're not sure, read HMRC's guidance or ask an accountant. Checked against GOV.UK on 23 September 2026.
Two years that never line up
| Calendar year | 1 January to 31 December. What platforms report to HMRC, by 31 January of the next year. (Submit your digital platform report) |
| UK tax year | 6 April to 5 April. What Self Assessment covers. (Register for Self Assessment) |
So the platform report for 2026 covers the end of one tax year and the start of the next:
| Dates in 2026 | Tax year | Online return due |
| 1 January to 5 April 2026 | 2025 to 2026 | 31 January 2027 |
| 6 April to 31 December 2026 | 2026 to 2027 | 31 January 2028 |
A worked example
A made-up shop sells on Etsy™. Its gross sales for each calendar quarter of 2026:
| Quarter | Gross | Of which 1 Jan to 5 Apr |
| January to March | £600 | £600 |
| April to June | £900 | £150 (1 to 5 April) |
| July to September | £700 | — |
| October to December | £1,300 | — |
| Calendar year 2026 | £3,500 | £750 |
- £750 belongs to the tax year 2025 to 2026, together with the shop's sales from 6 April to 31 December 2025.
- £2,750 belongs to the tax year 2026 to 2027, together with its sales from 1 January to 5 April 2027.
- The April quarter is the one that splits: its first five days are in the earlier tax year. Splitting by quarter or by month is not enough; it has to go by the date of each sale.
The rows that land in the wrong year
- Sales on 1 to 5 April. They belong to the tax year that is ending, not the one starting.
- Refunds across the line. A sale on 2 April refunded on 10 April: the sale is in one tax year and the refund in the next.
- Payouts. The date the platform pays your bank is not the date of the sale. A March sale paid out in April is still a March sale; payouts are your own money moving, not income.
- Monthly files that straddle. Etsy's April statement holds both tax years. So does an eBay™ report run from January to December.
- Dates in American order. A file that writes 04/05/2026 for 5 April puts the sale on 4 May in a sheet set to UK dates, and in the wrong tax year.
- Time zones. A sale late on 5 April in a file with times in another zone can read as 6 April.
Why the split matters
The £1,000 trading allowance and the Making Tax Digital thresholds are measured per tax year, against gross income before fees and expenses. A calendar-year figure, or the net figure a platform reports, is not the number they are measured against. The UK tax notes set out both, and what the platforms report explains the January report. (Tax-free allowances on property and trading income)
What Seller Export Cleaner does with it
Drop a year or more of files into the sidebar. Every sale gets its UK tax year from its own date, refunds go in the tax year they happened even when the sale was in an earlier one, and payouts go to their own tab, never the ledger. The summary shows gross, fees, refunds and net per tax year, and the reporting check works per calendar year, so both views come from the same files. When a file's dates could be day-first or month-first, it asks rather than guesses. See the guide.
Seller Export Cleaner · Prices · UK tax notes
Google, Google Sheets™ and Google Workspace™ are trademarks of Google LLC. Etsy™ is a trademark of Etsy, Inc., eBay™ of eBay Inc. and Vinted™ of Vinted, UAB. Depop™, Shopify™ and Xero™ are trademarks of their respective owners. They are named only to say which files the add-on reads or works with. Seller Export Cleaner is not affiliated with or endorsed by Google, Etsy, eBay or Vinted.