eBay and euros

My client is a UK resident who is in full-time employment in the UK but who also carries out a sideline by way of eBay trading. He spends his evenings looking at his computer screen and deciding what items he wishes to purchase with a view to reselling them for a profit.

For the past couple of years we have declared his income and expenditure on his self-assessment tax return as a UK trade.

However the German tax authorities have written to him to insist that he be treated as operating in their country and taxed accordingly. This led us to question our client a little further as to the exact nature of his operations.

It appears that our client does nearly all of his buying and selling in Germany with the assistance of his brother who is resident and working there.

Our client identifies...