HMRC is planning yet another raid on people who sell items on ecommerce platforms and fail to declare the money they make accurately.

According to accountancy firm BDO, the UK tax authority is close to implementing a new system for easier extraction and analysis of reports and data related to online sellers.

It claims that the information derived from this system will inform HMRC’s future approach to online sellers who aren’t currently declaring their income correctly.

This comes as a Freedom of Information request submitted by BDO to HMRC found that, in 2025, 3,988,892 online seller income reports were sent to the tax authority.

In another finding, the number of online seller income reports received by HMRC increased by 272 per cent between 2025 and in 2024 - when 1,466,171 were submitted.

Online sellers’ incomes also grew exponentially within the space of a year. In 2024, they made £25.5 billion. But this increased to £55 billion last year.

Although HMRC is expanding its approach to online sellers, it does currently have rules in place targeted at ecommerce platforms and their users.

For the past two years, HMRC has compelled online platforms across areas like ecommerce, accommodation rentals, takeaways, private hire and content sharing to ensure they have systems to gather user income information.

Currently, they must do this for users who generate over 30 annual sales and income exceeding £1,700. In 2025, HMRC reports of this kind totalled 811 - just a small increase compared to the 806 reported a year earlier. And reports of Brits selling items from outside the UK totalled 13.

2025 also saw HMRC issue online sellers believed to have underdeclared their incomes with written notices to get their tax affairs in order.

Describing these findings as a “gamechanger” and a “goldmine” for HMRC and its continued efforts to crack down on online sellers avoiding tax, Dawn Register - a tax dispute resolution partner at BDO - suggested the tax authority now has the data needed for proving that many online sellers are shedding their tax responsibilities.

“With a staggering £55 billion of online sales reported to HMRC for 2025, the tax authority will have a huge new target to aim at,” she continued. “We would encourage all those who have failed to accurately declare their historic earnings to bring their tax affairs up to date.”

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