law question: individuals' trading rights

[mikael84]

Hello there,

I have a question regarding law in the field of trading.
Basically I always wondered what the limit is between amateur “selling/trading” and a professional activity which require to be registered.

For example, all the people on EBay sell and buy and some of them can make a living of it. And still, none of them created a business with a real trading number and a legal structure.

The same when people sell all the useless stuff they have in their attic/basement, they don’t pey VAT or anything and this situation is widely accepted.

So what is the limit? After which point do we have to register? A certain amount? For import/export activities?

I have no idea really!

Thanks in advance

Mikael

[akula]

download zip

look at Figure 2-1

[mikael84]

download zip

look at Figure 2-1

Thank you Akula.

But that is not really what I'm looking for. (My post is not really clear, I admit it!)

Your table is about the conditions and rules for US legal structures for business.

I'm more interested in what a normal individual (like anybody in the street, with no company) is allowed to do in terms of trading/buying/selling.

A normal guy can buy souvenirs abroad or sell stuff to his friends, sure.

But that same normal guy is not allowed to import 30000 handbags from China and sell them on the high street. For that, he will have to create a real business, to pay tax on the imports, and so on.

I'm looking for the limit/boundary between those two states/situations, above which amount traded does the law urge him to start up a real company?


---


E.G.: let's say, I have got an organization, that organization allows people to buy and sell stuff to each other with no legal requirements, no company registration number... Is it legal???
Beyong which point do I need to ask those people to be preffessional and not "basic individual with no connection to business"...(then, they would have to pay taxes and stuff which make the whole thing completely different)


Sorry, if it's not really clear... My English is not 100% perfect as you may have noticed...