How Much Can You Earn on Vinted Before Paying Tax?

How much you can earn on Vinted before paying tax depends entirely on what you’re selling and why. If you’re clearing out your own closet at prices below what you originally paid, you can bring in an unlimited amount and owe no federal income tax, because the IRS only taxes profit. If you’re buying items to resell at a markup, the answer drops sharply: you owe self-employment tax once your net profit reaches $400 in a year.

Personal Selling vs. Reselling for Profit

The IRS draws a hard line between two kinds of Vinted sellers, and which side you’re on decides everything else.

Most users are decluttering. You bought a jacket for $120, wore it for two years, and sold it for $40. That’s an $80 loss on a personal item. Losses on personal belongings aren’t taxable and can’t be deducted. You could sell thousands of dollars of used clothing this way and owe zero federal income tax, because there was never any profit to tax.1Internal Revenue Service. What to Do With Form 1099-K – Section: If You Sold Personal Items

The picture changes when you buy inventory to flip. Sourcing pieces from thrift stores at $5 and listing them at $45 is a business in the IRS’s view, whether or not you think of it that way. Revenue gets taxed as self-employment income, meaning both income tax and self-employment tax.

The clearest test comes from Section 183 of the tax code: if the activity produces a profit in three of five consecutive years, there’s a legal presumption it’s a for-profit business rather than a hobby.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 183 – Activities Not Engaged in for Profit Other signals include how systematically you operate, whether you keep business-like records, and how much time you devote to it.

The $400 Profit Threshold for Resellers

Here’s the number that catches most Vinted resellers off guard: you owe self-employment tax once your net earnings from reselling reach $400 in a year. Not $600. Not $20,000. Four hundred dollars of actual profit.3Internal Revenue Service. Self-Employment Tax (Social Security and Medicare Taxes)

The self-employment tax rate is 15.3%, covering both the employer and employee shares of Social Security (12.4%) and Medicare (2.9%). If you had a regular job, your employer would pay half. When you’re self-employed, you pay the full amount yourself.3Internal Revenue Service. Self-Employment Tax (Social Security and Medicare Taxes) The Social Security portion applies to net earnings up to $184,500 in 2026; the Medicare portion has no cap.4Social Security Administration. Contribution and Benefit Base

Self-employment tax is separate from your regular income tax. On $2,000 in net Vinted profit, you’d owe roughly $283 in self-employment tax alone, plus whatever your income tax bracket adds. You calculate it on Schedule SE and report your business income on Schedule C, both attached to Form 1040.5Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Schedule SE (Form 1040) One small consolation: you can deduct half of your self-employment tax when calculating your adjusted gross income.

The $600 Reporting Threshold Is Not a Tax Threshold

Starting with the 2026 tax year, Vinted and every other payment platform must send you (and the IRS) a Form 1099-K if your total gross payments exceed $600 in a calendar year. That $600 covers everything buyers paid, before Vinted deducts fees or shipping. The threshold dropped from the original $20,000-and-200-transactions rule that had existed since 2008, though the IRS phased it in over several years.6Internal Revenue Service. IRS Notice 2024-85 – Transition Relief for Form 1099-K Reporting

If you sold on Vinted in earlier years and never received a 1099-K, that’s because the IRS kept pushing the rule back. The transition worked like this:

Getting a 1099-K does not automatically mean you owe tax. The form reports gross sales volume, not profit. If you sold $3,000 worth of old clothes that originally cost you $5,000, you have a loss and owe nothing. The form just means the IRS now knows about those sales, so you have to account for the amount on your return even if you zero it out.

The reverse is also true: staying under $600 doesn’t put you in a safe harbor. You’re legally required to report taxable income from any source. The form is a cross-check mechanism, not the trigger for your obligation.

Deductions That Shrink What You Actually Pay Tax On

If Vinted reselling qualifies as a business, you subtract legitimate expenses before calculating taxable profit. Most casual resellers leave money on the table by not tracking these costs.

  • Cost of goods sold: whatever you paid for inventory. Bought a jacket at a thrift store for $8 and sold it for $50? Your taxable gain starts at $42, not $50.
  • Platform fees: Vinted’s selling fees and payment processing charges are deductible.
  • Shipping and packaging: postage, poly mailers, boxes, tape, and shipping insurance all count.7Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Schedule C (Form 1040)
  • Mileage: trips to thrift stores, estate sales, or the post office deduct at the 2026 IRS standard rate of 72.5 cents per mile.8Internal Revenue Service. Standard Mileage Rates Updated for 2026
  • Home office: a space used exclusively for photographing, storing, and listing inventory qualifies. The simplified method allows $5 per square foot up to 300 square feet, for a maximum deduction of $1,500.9Internal Revenue Service. Simplified Option for Home Office Deduction
  • Supplies and tools: photo editing software, a ring light, hangers, and garment steamers used for the business.

These all go on Schedule C. Total deductions reduce your net profit, which reduces both income tax and self-employment tax. A reseller with $4,000 in gross sales and $2,200 in documented expenses pays tax on $1,800 of profit rather than the $4,000 that appears on the 1099-K.

The IRS doesn’t take your word for it. Keep a log of each item’s original cost, selling price, Vinted fees, and shipping. Save thrift store receipts, bank statements, and screenshots of your transaction history. The general rule is to hold records for at least three years after filing, since that’s the IRS’s standard audit window. If you underreport income by more than 25%, the window stretches to six years.10Internal Revenue Service. How Long Should I Keep Records

What to Do if You Get a 1099-K but Only Sold Personal Items

You still need to account for the form on your return so the IRS doesn’t treat the gross amount as unreported income. The IRS instructions for Form 1099-K explain how to report the gross figure and then offset it to zero by showing each item sold for less than its original cost.1Internal Revenue Service. What to Do With Form 1099-K – Section: If You Sold Personal Items The end result is the same nothing-owed outcome, but the return has to show the math.

If you’re reselling for profit, report business income and expenses on Schedule C, which feeds into Form 1040.11Internal Revenue Service. Schedule C (Form 1040) – Profit or Loss From Business The net profit carries over to Schedule SE, where self-employment tax gets calculated.

The Cost of Not Reporting

The 1099-K system makes it harder than ever to skip reporting Vinted profit, and the consequences stack.

An accuracy-related penalty of 20% of the underpaid tax applies under Section 6662.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 6662 – Imposition of Accuracy-Related Penalty on Underpayments If you owed $800 in tax on your Vinted profits and reported none of it, the penalty alone is $160 on top of the $800 you already owe.

Interest also accrues on unpaid balances from the original due date, set quarterly at the federal short-term rate plus three percentage points. That rate was 7% for the first quarter of 2026.13Internal Revenue Service. Quarterly Interest Rates Interest compounds daily, so the cost climbs the longer the balance sits.