Maximising income - Mystery Shopping? Surveys? (Part Two)

moneymaker2 wrote: »

How rude jobbing musician... I am new to this an feel deeply offended by you laughing at my incompetence (Just Kidding)
It's just that I now have 3 mystery shopper jobs sorted out and I want to do it all legally.
Need to get a national insurance excempt certifictae in the next 3 months and will also have to have a look at the self assesment thing on line.
I'm assuming that I have to pay all my tax in one go (by sept 08?????)
Not really sure how much to put aside for this every month out of what I earn or really how I should track what i have incoming.... Ahh help me i'm in too deep!!!!!!!!

I just keep a very simple spreadsheet with expenditure and income and keep a running total. Don't forget 40p per mile travel expenses and 6p per sheet for all those pages you have to fill out. It soon adds up and if you "remember" to include all your expenses you'll probably find you won't owe anything, if you get my drift...

IR owe me tax from my proper job so the only way I could get it was to do my tax return for my £50 of MS last yr!! No efficiency - just want my bathroom done.....................

moneymaker2 wrote: »

How rude jobbing musician... I am new to this an feel deeply offended by you laughing at my incompetence (Just Kidding)
It's just that I now have 3 mystery shopper jobs sorted out and I want to do it all legally.
Need to get a national insurance excempt certifictae in the next 3 months and will also have to have a look at the self assesment thing on line.
I'm assuming that I have to pay all my tax in one go (by sept 08?????)
Not really sure how much to put aside for this every month out of what I earn or really how I should track what i have incoming.... Ahh help me i'm in too deep!!!!!!!!

Lol - sorry, it hadn't even occurred to me that it might be rude to show you I was curled up laughing - it was just such a horrid idea that we might have to do our tax calcs and pay tax every month!

OK, here's what happens. You are working now in the tax year 2007-8. You've got the right idea about when you will have to pay, but in fact it's even later than that - if you really want to pay your tax as late as possible (not recommended as you will get into a panic like I did in Jan this year) then you can submit your return at the end of Jan 2009, and pay then. The really good news is that if you claim everything possible (and because MS is so badly paid anyway) you'll find you owe very little tax.

Supposing you do a job where you go to a pub or restaurant, get paid £5 plus mileage at 22p a mile totalling £2.20, and £20 for your meal.

Write it all down nicely. THe £20 is not taxable. You travelled 10 miles, and the Inland Revenue allowance is 40p a mile, so in tax terms you spent £4 on mileage but were reimbursed £2.20 YOu can claim another £1.80.

YOu logged on to the computer to get the work, and printed out 10 pages of instructions on this occasion. YOu can claim 6p to cover your ink and paper for each sheet you printed. THat's another 60p, and I'd claim 50p for the online time looking for work and the envelope. You posted some info back to them, but it was a freepost address on this occasion, so this time you are not claiming for a stamp.

Total expenses = £4 mileage + 60p printing + 50p online time/env = £5.10, of which you have been refunded £3 from the company.

Total profit = £5 fee - £2.10 = £2.90

Tax on £2.90 at 22% is 64p, which is how much you might like to squirrel away unless you are a higher rate tax payer. If the job was for TNS you will already have been taxed, so you don't have to worry, just keep your records (if it was for TNS you can claim some mileage back later because of the fact their mileage rate is lower than 40p a mile )