Selling personal items online—from clothing to household appliances—is a common practice for many Belarusians. But do you have to pay tax on such sales, in what circumstances does posting a regular advertisement attract the attention of the tax authorities, and where is the line that turns regular resale of used goods into illegal entrepreneurial activity in the eyes of the tax office? We discuss these questions with Diana Arturovna Amirhanian, a lawyer from the Minsk City Bar Association with more than ten years of legal experience.

Personal property exempt from income tax

Let’s start with the basics: if an individual sells their own used items, it is not considered entrepreneurial activity. The citizen does not need to register as a sole proprietor or submit any notifications to the tax authorities. However, the law clearly stipulates a key condition: these items must have originally been purchased, produced, or used solely for personal, family, household, or other non‑business purposes.

— As explained by the Ministry of Taxes and Fees, — comments Diana Arturovna, — income earned from selling a person's own used items is not subject to income tax. Accordingly, there is no need to file a tax return.

According to the Tax Code, citizens’ income from the paid disposal of personal property (unless it concerns real estate, vehicles, and some other specific categories) is entirely exempt from income tax.

Special rules apply to cars and apartments. For example, you will have to declare and pay tax if you sell a second or subsequent passenger car within a single calendar year.

How does the tax office distinguish the sale of personal property from hidden business?

The Civil Code (Part 2, Paragraph 1, Article 1) states: entrepreneurship is an independent activity aimed at the systematic acquisition of profit, including from the sale of goods that have been produced, processed, or purchased for resale.

However, the law does not set a specific threshold for the number of transactions or the amount of revenue after which you would be considered an entrepreneur. Tax authorities always assess the entire set of indicators.

The main criteria for assessment:

Systematicity (how often you sell items).

Origin of the goods (why you originally purchased them).

Everything depends on the original purpose of the purchase, explains the lawyer. If you sell your laptop, which you previously bought for yourself and used for some time, you do not have to pay tax, regardless of the transaction price. But if a person starts regularly buying equipment (including abroad) for resale, that is already entrepreneurial activity.

What can attract the attention of tax authorities?

Regular posting of similar advertisements.

The presence of multiple identical product listings and a wide assortment.

However, these signs by themselves do not constitute grounds for classifying the activity as entrepreneurial if the items were originally purchased for personal consumption.

The cost of the mistake: consequences for illegal entrepreneurs

If the tax authorities prove that, under the guise of selling personal used property, a person is engaged in systematic resale of purchased goods, this will be classified as retail trade. This type of activity is not included in the permitted list for payers of the professional income tax (NPD). Such trade can only be conducted after official state registration as an individual entrepreneur.

If entrepreneurial activity is carried out without state registration, administrative liability arises under part 2 of Article 13.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences. This provision imposes a fine of up to one hundred base amounts. In addition, confiscation of the very object of the administrative offence (the goods), the instruments and means of its execution, as well as up to one hundred percent of the income obtained from such activity, is provided.

Enforcement practice clearly confirms that such violations are actively identified by controlling authorities, and most often this occurs in the sphere of trade via social networks.

Anastasia Napreeno