DAC7: what platforms tell HMRC about you (2026)

Summary

From 1 January 2024, platforms like Uber, Deliveroo, Amazon, Airbnb and eBay must collect your details and report your income to HMRC once you hit about €2,000 (roughly £1,700) or 30+ transactions in a calendar year.

HMRC uses this data from January 2025 onwards to cross-check Self Assessment returns and send "we think you've under-declared" letters, with penalties if you keep quiet.

For 2025-26, any UK gig worker who has not been declaring should assume HMRC will catch up within a few years and take steps now to put things right.

Key facts (UK 2025-26)

• From 1 January 2024, UK "digital platform operators" have to follow HMRC's "Reporting rules for digital platforms", based on the OECD Model Reporting Rules for Digital Platforms.
• First UK reports cover the 1 January to 31 December 2024 calendar year and are due to HMRC by 31 January 2025; the same cycle continues each year (so 2025 data is due by 31 January 2026, and so on).
• Platforms must collect and report data on "reportable sellers", including individuals and businesses using them to provide services (like ride-hailing, food delivery, short-term accommodation) or sell goods.
• For people selling goods, the rules only bite once you either make at least €2,000 (about £1,700) or complete 30 or more transactions in a calendar year on that platform; below that, the platform does not have to report you, but you still must declare taxable income.
• For services (for example driving for Uber, delivering for Deliveroo, doing Amazon Flex, or renting out a room on Airbnb), the reporting rules generally apply without the €2,000 / 30-transaction cut-off that exists for goods.
• Platforms must collect your name, address, date of birth (for individuals), tax identification number (usually your National Insurance number or Unique Taxpayer Reference), bank account details used for payouts, and total consideration (income) and number of relevant transactions per period.
• The rules apply to UK-based platforms and non-UK platforms with UK sellers; UK guidance lists ride-hailing, food delivery, freelancing, property letting and goods marketplaces as in-scope sectors. Uber, Deliveroo, Amazon, Airbnb and eBay all fall within these categories.
• Uber has already started asking new UK drivers for tax details from 1 January 2024 and will report income to HMRC from January 2025; existing drivers are being onboarded into this process.
• HMRC will match platform reports against Self Assessment records and other data, and is already sending "nudge letters" to Uber and other private hire drivers who appear to have under-declared income.
• For the 6 April 2025 to 5 April 2026 UK tax year, the existence of DAC7-style reporting does not change income tax or National Insurance rates, but it drastically reduces the chance that undeclared gig income will stay hidden.
• Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax is due to start phasing in from April 2026 and April 2027 for many self-employed workers above set profit thresholds; this will eventually sit on top of platform reporting, meaning quarterly updates plus annual DAC7 feeds.

Legislation, case law, regulation

• Reporting rules for digital platforms: UK measure implementing the OECD Model Reporting Rules for Digital Platforms, originally announced March 2021 and taking effect from 1 January 2024 in the UK.
• OECD Model Rules for Reporting by Platform Operators with respect to Sellers in the Sharing and Gig Economy (MRDP): international standard that UK rules are based on.
• HMRC guidance: "Check if you need to register as a digital platform operator, Reporting rules for digital platforms" (gov.uk, 2024): sets out who must report, what activities are covered, and what data is collected.
• HMRC guidance: "Submit your digital platform report" (gov.uk, 2024): explains how and when platform operators must send reports (by 31 January following the calendar year).
• Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (LITRG), Digital platform reporting rules page: explains the €2,000 / 30-transaction threshold for people selling goods, and that tax duties still apply under normal income tax law.
• Income Tax (Trading and Other Income) Act 2005: core Act for trading income and the £1,000 trading allowance (still in force for 2025-26).
• Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 (ITEPA 2003): main income tax Act for earnings, including PAYE employment income.
• Taxes Management Act 1970: sets out HMRC powers to collect information, check returns, raise enquiries, and charge penalties and interest for errors or failures.
• OECD DAC7 / EU Council Directive (EU) 2021/514: the EU's version of the digital platform reporting rules; not directly UK law but the basis for much of the terminology ("DAC7") used in forums and platform FAQs.

How it actually works

From your point of view as a UK gig worker, DAC7-style rules mean that what Uber, Deliveroo, Amazon, Airbnb or eBay pay you is now being fed to HMRC each year in a structured file. The platforms have to collect your tax details, keep track of how much you earn and how many jobs or sales you do, and send that to HMRC by 31 January after the calendar year, starting with 2024 data in January 2025.

If you are providing services through platforms (Uber, Bolt, Deliveroo, Just Eat, Stuart, Gophr, Amazon Flex, TaskRabbit-style apps, Airbnb hosting, etc.), your platform is expected to treat you as a "reportable seller" unless an exclusion applies (for example, very large operators or non-profit situations). For selling goods on platforms like eBay, Vinted or Amazon Marketplace, the platform has to report you once you hit either 30+ sales or €2,000 (about £1,700) of gross income in a calendar year; under that, the platform may not have to report, but your tax duties still exist.

The data platforms send includes who you are and what you earned: name, address, date of birth or business registration, tax identification number (usually NI number or UTR), bank details used for payouts, the total "consideration" (gross income before platform fees) and number of transactions, broken down by period. Platforms also have to give you a copy of what they are reporting, usually by email or in-app, by the same 31 January deadline, so you can see what HMRC will see.

HMRC then feeds these platform reports into its systems and compares them with Self Assessment returns and PAYE data. If you have a Self Assessment return that shows only £10,000 of self-employed income but Uber and Deliveroo reports show £20,000 paid to you, HMRC can send a "data-driven compliance letter" asking you to correct the return, or open a formal enquiry using its powers under the Taxes Management Act 1970.

For someone who has never declared their gig income, the risk builds year by year. From 2025 onwards HMRC starts to get annual dumps of your income from each platform; they can quickly see people with multiple platforms and no tax returns and begin writing to them. How long it takes depends on HMRC's workload, but accountants are already reporting Uber drivers receiving letters in early 2026 based on 2024-25 data. If you ignore those letters, penalties for failing to notify HMRC and for under-declared tax can be large, especially if HMRC decides the behaviour was "deliberate" rather than a simple mistake, under the standard penalty rules in the Taxes Management Act 1970.

The key practical point: DAC7-style reporting doesn't change how much tax you should pay; it changes how likely HMRC is to find out if you have not paid it. For 2025-26, the safest move if you have undeclared gig income is to get ahead of this data by registering for Self Assessment, catching up any missing years, and making sure your returns match what the platforms will report.

Worked example

Scenario: Amazon Flex + eBay side hustle with no declarations so far

A 34-year-old in Manchester does Amazon Flex deliveries around childcare.

• Amazon Flex income (services): £18,000 gross during calendar year 2024 (roughly £350 a week for 52 weeks).
• eBay selling (goods): they sell unwanted electronics and "flips" for £3,000 gross in 40 sales during 2024.
• They have never registered for Self Assessment and have treated this as "spare cash".

Step 1, what platforms report

For Amazon Flex, the platform treats this as providing services and so must report them as a "reportable seller": name, address, NI number or UTR (if known), bank details, number of delivery transactions, and total consideration (the £18,000) for 1 January to 31 December 2024. Amazon sends this to HMRC by 31 January 2025 and also sends a summary to the driver.

For eBay, the seller has exceeded both DAC7 thresholds for goods: more than €2,000 (roughly £1,700) and more than 30 sales in the calendar year. eBay therefore reports their details and the £3,000 gross sales figure to HMRC for 2024 by 31 January 2025.

Step 2, what the law expects on tax

Under Income Tax (Trading and Other Income) Act 2005, both the Amazon Flex deliveries and the eBay "flipping" are trading. The person has total trading income of £21,000 for the 6 April 2024 to 5 April 2025 tax year (and similar for 2025-26 if they carry on). The £1,000 trading allowance for each tax year is across all trading income, not per platform, so the rest should be reported via Self Assessment. (The same pattern continues into 2025-26.)

Step 3, HMRC's view once DAC7 data arrives

By mid-2025, HMRC's systems show:

• Platform reports: £18,000 from Amazon Flex (services) + £3,000 from eBay (goods).
• No Self Assessment return, no self-employed registration and no mention of this income elsewhere.

HMRC can now issue a letter similar to those already going to some Uber drivers, stating that HMRC has received information from digital platforms and asking the person to check whether they have declared all their income. If the person still does nothing, HMRC can open an enquiry and make a "discovery assessment", estimating the tax due and adding interest and penalties under the Taxes Management Act 1970.

Step 4, time and penalties

Suppose HMRC only writes in 2027, by which time the driver has three undeclared years (2024-25, 2025-26, 2026-27). HMRC can go back up to several years depending on whether they regard the behaviour as careless or deliberate; where they suspect deliberate non-notification they can go back up to 20 years. Penalties can be up to 100% of the unpaid tax for deliberate behaviour, though they reduce this if you tell them before they find you or cooperate fully.

Step 5, how it could have gone instead

If, after Amazon warned them in 2024 about tax reporting rules, the driver had registered for Self Assessment, used the £1,000 trading allowance where helpful, and filed returns on time, then when Amazon and eBay reports landed in January 2025 they would broadly match the figures on the returns. HMRC would have no reason to send nudge letters and the driver would sleep better at night.

For 2025-26, the practical lesson is that if your Amazon, Uber, Deliveroo, Airbnb or marketplace app is telling you it will share your data with HMRC, you should assume that HMRC will see your income and act as if they already have the numbers.

What Reddit, TikTok and forums get wrong

1. "DAC7 only applies in the EU so UK gig workers are safe from it." Where it appears: EU-focused TikToks and UK Reddit threads using "DAC7" as if it's only an EU thing. Why it's wrong: The UK has implemented its own "Reporting rules for digital platforms" based on the same OECD model from 1 January 2024; HMRC explicitly references these rules for UK platforms and UK sellers. Correct position: Even though "DAC7" is technically an EU directive, UK-based and non-UK platforms with UK sellers must follow the UK's equivalent rules from 1 January 2024, with their first reports due by 31 January 2025. Income tax law (Income Tax (Trading and Other Income) Act 2005) still applies to your income, regardless of whether the EU or UK label is used.

2. "Platforms only report if you earn over £1,000, same as the trading allowance." Where it appears: UK Facebook groups and side-hustle TikToks that mix up the tax-free trading allowance with the reporting thresholds. Why it's wrong: The £1,000 trading allowance is a UK tax rule about whether you can ignore or simplify small trading income; the platform reporting thresholds for goods are set at 30 transactions or €2,000 (about £1,700) in a calendar year, and for services there is usually no such minimum threshold. Correct position: Platforms must report most service providers regardless of whether they are under or over £1,000 of income, and must report goods sellers who hit 30 sales or €2,000 of income in a year. You still have to declare taxable income even if the platform is not required to report you.

3. "HMRC will only use DAC7 data for big businesses, not small Uber drivers or eBay sellers." Where it appears: Comments on r/UberUK and general UK personal finance forums. Why it's wrong: HMRC's own guidance states the rules are aimed at "sellers of goods or services" using digital platforms, which includes self-employed individuals; accountants are already seeing compliance letters go to ordinary Uber drivers based on platform data. Correct position: HMRC is deliberately using platform data to target small traders on gig and selling platforms who have not declared income, as shown by 2026 guidance about compliance letters to Uber and other private hire drivers.

4. "If you're under the €2,000 / 30-transaction threshold, you don't need to declare that income at all." Where it appears: eBay and Vinted groups, and some TikTok reselling videos. Why it's wrong: The Low Incomes Tax Reform Group explicitly says that the €2,000 and 30-transaction threshold only decides which sellers the platform has to report; it does not change what the seller must report to HMRC for tax. Correct position: You must declare trading profits if you are above the £1,000 trading allowance in a UK tax year, regardless of whether the platform reports you under DAC7 rules. The platform's obligations and your obligations are separate.

5. "DAC7 only covers goods, not services like Uber driving or Deliveroo deliveries." Where it appears: Some earlier Reddit and forum posts that looked only at the original OECD rules before they were expanded. Why it's wrong: The OECD Model Rules were always about platforms used to provide services in the sharing and gig economy; they were later extended to also include the sale of goods. Correct position: UK rules cover both services (ride-hailing, food delivery, freelance gigs, short-term lets) and goods. Uber, Deliveroo and Amazon Flex are squarely in scope as service platforms.

6. "If the platform reports, you don't need to do a tax return, HMRC will just auto-assess you." Where it appears: Side hustle TikToks and comments under HMRC social media posts. Why it's wrong: HMRC has said that platform data is used to check and prompt, not to automatically do your Self Assessment for you. You still have to register, file, and pay where required. Correct position: Platform reporting does not replace Self Assessment; it gives HMRC a way to spot missing or incorrect returns and to challenge you if your declared income does not match platform data.

7. "If you start declaring now, HMRC will automatically go back and punish you for all previous years." Where it appears: Scared posts on r/UKPersonalFinance and gig worker groups. Why it's partly wrong: HMRC can look back several years, but coming forward voluntarily usually means lower penalties than waiting until they send you a DAC7-based letter or open an enquiry. Correct position: HMRC's own penalty framework rewards early, unprompted disclosure; if DAC7 reports are already flowing, fixing things sooner rather than later tends to be better than waiting.

Action steps for the reader

1. Log into every gig or selling app you use (Uber, Deliveroo, Amazon Flex, Airbnb, eBay, etc.) and download your 2024 and 2025 income summaries; keep them with your records.
2. Check your emails and in-app messages for anything mentioning "tax information", "DAC7" or "reporting rules for digital platforms". Complete any required tax profile so your data is correct before platforms send reports to HMRC.
3. Add up your total gig and trading income for 6 April 2024 to 5 April 2025 and for 6 April 2025 to 5 April 2026 and check if you are over the £1,000 trading allowance in each year; if you are, plan to register for Self Assessment.
4. If you know you have undeclared gig income for earlier years, make a list of years and approximate amounts now; then either call HMRC's helpline or speak to a tax adviser (for example through a union like IWGB, ADCU or GMB, or a low-cost accountant) to work out the cleanest way to correct them before HMRC's DAC7 data matching flags you.
5. When you complete future Self Assessment returns, ensure the self-employed income figures match (or sensibly reconcile with) what your platforms show as "total payouts" or "gross income" per year.
6. Stop relying on TikTok or random Reddit comments for tax advice; bookmark HMRC's "Reporting rules for digital platforms" and LITRG's "Digital platform reporting rules" pages and treat those as your baseline.

Related tools GigKiln should build

• "Platform report matcher": upload or paste your Uber/Deliveroo/Amazon/Airbnb/eBay annual statement and check whether it matches what you put (or plan to put) on Self Assessment.
• "DAC7 threshold checker": asks how many sales and how much income you had from goods selling, and shows if your platform is likely to report you under the €2,000 / 30-transaction rule.
• "Multi-platform income combiner": pulls or lets you paste data from several apps and builds a single income figure for each UK tax year.
• "Catch-up plan generator": asks how many years you have not declared, roughly how much you made, and outputs a step-by-step plan for correcting past years in the least painful way.
• "Plain-English DAC7 explainer for each platform": short, app-specific pages summarising what Uber, Deliveroo, Amazon, Airbnb and eBay actually send to HMRC and when.

Related guides

• "Side hustles and the £1,000 trading allowance for 2025-26, what it does and does not do"
• "Uber, Deliveroo and Amazon Flex: what they now tell HMRC about you from 2024 onwards"
• "How to use your platform income statements to fill in Self Assessment correctly"
• "I've had an HMRC letter about undeclared gig income, what to do next"
• "Selling on eBay, Vinted and Facebook Marketplace, when does it become taxable trading?"

Sources

Primary

• HMRC, "Check if you need to register as a digital platform operator, Reporting rules for digital platforms" (gov.uk, accessed 19 April 2026).
• HMRC, "Reporting rules for digital platforms" policy paper (gov.uk, accessed 19 April 2026).
• HMRC, "Submit your digital platform report" (gov.uk, accessed 19 April 2026).
• HMRC / UK Government, update confirming UK digital platform reporting rules start from 1 January 2024, first reports due by 31 January 2025 (gov.uk and policy commentary, accessed 19 April 2026).
• Low Incomes Tax Reform Group, "Digital platform reporting rules" (explains €2,000 / 30-transaction threshold for goods, accessed 19 April 2026).
• OECD, "Model Reporting Rules for Digital Platforms" FAQs (explains scope and thresholds, accessed 19 April 2026).
• Qdos, "Model Reporting Rules for Digital Platforms" (explains data collected and thresholds, treated here as secondary for clarity, accessed 19 April 2026).
• TaxSteins, "How will Uber share information with HMRC as per recent changes" (explains Uber tax info collection from 1 January 2024 and reporting from 31 January 2025, accessed 19 April 2026).
• BS Associate, "HMRC Compliance Letters to Uber Drivers 2026 Guide" (describes letters based on platform data, accessed 19 April 2026).

Secondary

• Taylor Wessing, "Reporting rules for digital platforms, HMRC guidance on UK implementation" (law firm summary, accessed 19 April 2026).
• Moore Kingston Smith, "New reporting requirements for digital platform operators from 1 January 2024" (accountancy summary of deadlines and penalties, accessed 19 April 2026).
• Tax Natives, "Digital platforms in the UK face new reporting obligations" (background on the 15 November 2023 HMRC guidance, accessed 19 April 2026).