Platform statements reconciled
Marketplace and checkout statements matched against the payouts that actually landed.
Social sellers and course creators
Selling through social is proper retail
TikTok Shop, merch, digital products, courses and memberships. Stock, VAT and platform fees handled, and the registration threshold watched so it never arrives as a surprise.
What you get
- Shop statements matched to what actually landed
- What you really make after stock, postage and fees
- We watch the VAT line so it never catches you out
- Courses and downloads sold abroad, handled
- Your tax return or company accounts included
- One fixed monthly fee, FreeAgent included
The numbers that decide it
Four figures worth knowing by heart
Four numbers govern a selling year, and the first one is the one that surprises people.
£90,000VAT threshold, on rolling turnover
TurnoverWhat it is measured against — not profit
30 daysTo register once you cross it
An assetWhat unsold stock is, not an expense
2026/27 figures. See key tax dates and the calculators for the full picture.
Your year
Three dates and three counts
The counting matters more than the dates here. A product business that only looks at its numbers in January is flying blind for eleven months.
6 AprilNew tax year. Everything sold from here belongs to the next return.
Every monthRolling twelve-month turnover checked against the £90,000 threshold.
At each stocktakeUnsold stock counted and valued — it is an asset, not a cost.
Within 30 daysRegister for VAT once the rolling threshold is crossed.
31 JanuaryReturn, balancing payment and first payment on account.
31 JulySecond payment on account.
Source: gov.uk Self Assessment, trading allowance and VAT guidance, checked July 2026. Rates are 2026/27 from this site's own calculators.
What makes it different
Where content becomes commerce, the accounting gets real
Selling through social is proper retail with a creator front end. There is stock to finance and count, platform commission quietly clipping every sale, returns and refunds to handle, and shipping costs that are easy to under-count.
The thing that catches people is VAT. A creator earning from advertising and sponsorship takes a long time to reach the registration threshold, because the threshold is measured against turnover. A creator selling product can get there in one good quarter, because every pound of a sale counts towards it even though most of that pound is the cost of the goods.
The detail that decides it
What actually moves the numbers when you sell product
Four things, and the first one arrives faster than anyone expects.
- VAT is measured on turnover, not profit
- Registration is required once taxable turnover passes £90,000 in any rolling twelve months. On a product business with thin margins, that can be a year where you kept relatively little. Watching the rolling figure rather than the year-end one is the difference between planning registration and discovering it.
- Platform commission and fees are costs
- Marketplace commission, payment processing and fulfilment fees are all allowable, and they are deducted before the payout reaches you. Reconciling the platform statement against the bank is the only way to see the real margin rather than a flattering one.
- Stock is not an expense until it sells
- Money spent on stock that is still sitting in a spare room is not a cost of this year — it is an asset. Getting that wrong makes a profitable year look like a loss and a loss look like a profit, and it is the single most common bookkeeping error in a first year of selling.
- Digital products sold abroad have their own rules
- Courses, downloads and memberships sold to consumers outside the UK bring place-of-supply rules with them once you are VAT registered. They are manageable, but they are not the same rules as selling a T-shirt.
The threshold that arrives early
Why a £35,000 year can require VAT registration
£86,000 of sales, and what the threshold is actually counting
A merch and social-commerce year with ordinary retail margins. The registration test looks at only one of these numbers.
- Product sales in a rolling twelve months
- £86,000
- Cost of the goods sold
- −£51,000
- What you actually made
- £35,000
- Turnover the VAT threshold is measured against
- £86,000
- Headroom before registration becomes compulsory
- £4,000
Two more good weeks and registration is mandatory within thirty days. Planned, that means prices and margins adjusted in advance and input VAT reclaimed on stock. Discovered late, it means paying VAT out of sales you already made at the old price.
Source: gov.uk Self Assessment, trading allowance and VAT guidance, checked July 2026. Rates are 2026/27 from this site's own calculators.
What we do about it
Commerce numbers, minded
Real margins, visible
Stock, shipping and commission tracked so the margin is a number rather than a hope.
The VAT threshold watched
Rolling twelve-month turnover monitored, so registration is planned rather than discovered.
Digital product rules
Courses and downloads sold abroad treated correctly without over-engineering it.
Stock funding
Finance a launch through our funding portal rather than betting the channel on it.
Returns and accounts included
Self Assessment or company accounts, whichever structure you are in.
Questions
What creators ask us
Do social sellers need to register for VAT?
Once taxable turnover passes £90,000 in a rolling twelve months, yes, and you have thirty days to do it. Product sellers reach that far faster than advertising-funded creators because the threshold counts your sales, not your profit.
How is selling courses taxed?
Course and digital-product income is trading income like any other. VAT place-of-supply rules for digital products sold to consumers abroad add complexity once you are VAT registered — we keep it compliant without over-engineering it.
Does the platform report my sales to HMRC?
Yes. Digital platforms are required to collect and report seller information to HMRC. Clean, declared income with proper expense claims is the only sensible position now.
I bought £10,000 of stock. Can I claim it this year?
Only the part that sold. Stock still on the shelf at the year end is an asset rather than an expense, which is why a business that spent heavily on stock can show a profit it does not feel. Getting the stock figure right is what makes the accounts mean anything.
Accreditations & Partnerships
