Private sellers and business traders should be aware of eBay tax pitfalls, warns Bradford chartered accountants Naylor Wintersgill.

With more than 100 million registered users throughout the world and ten million of these in the UK, eBay has been used increasingly by businesses wishing to dispose of stock or surplus equipment.

Until recently, only individuals could register, with many businesses signing up and trading as individuals. Now businesses are eligible to join. But Naylor Wintersgill said it was important that all sales should be reflected in the business books in the normal way. Tax partner Vaughan Houldsworth, said firms must realise that sales on eBay are viewed as a normal sales and must be recorded in their books. He said that private sellers were also being targeted by the Inland Revenue.