Readers’ forum: Implications of selling personal collection

My client sells books and other collectables on eBay. He buys his stock from other online sources and in-person dealers. This is a taxable trading activity and is treated as such in his SA returns.

The client has recently started selling some items from his personal collection. These items are listed on his eBay site in the same way as his trading stock and the purchaser has no means of knowing if what they are buying comes from the trader’s own collection. He has asked me whether he has to include the amount received from selling items from his collection as part of his trading receipts.

If he were only selling personal possessions he would not be regarded as carrying on a trade but does the fact that he is carrying on a trade mean that the sums he receives from selling his own collection should be treated as...