Wtc

somebodysmummy

I recently seperated from my husband. I work in a 'proper job' for 8 hours a week and most of my wages pay for childcare. I am also registered as self employed as I do some mystery shopping for between 1 and 3 hours each week. If I worked for 16 hours each week, I would qualify for WTC to help pay for the childcare and therefore have more money tolive on now that I am a single parent.

Can I count the time I spend mystery shopping when working out how many hours I work each week?

Also, I complete surveys and daily clicks, etc. Provided I declare any income from these things on my tax return, will the time I spend doing these things count toward the 16 hours for WTC purposes?

Thankyou for any help

DreamerV

Since you are mystery shopping self employed, it counts as work....you can count the hours. You need to average 16hrs a week atleast for your situation, but it can be made up of more than 1 job (and that can be combination of employment and self employment). I wouldn't have thought you could get the surveys etc included as I don't think you are paid for that via any kind of contract, I think you are paid like a gift in return for helping a company....but I am too sure with that to be honest. Maybe somebody else will have better advice about the last bit.

dmg24

I also doubt that surveys and daily clicks would count, as they are not usually counted for income purposes.

Be careful not to 'massage' your worked hours to meet the sixteen hour requirement. When people make up their hours from various sources, HMRC are more likely to ask for you to provide evidence of the amount that you are doing.

Are you not eligible for Income Support? x

astralbee

dmg24 wrote: »

I also doubt that surveys and daily clicks would count, as they are not usually counted for income purposes.

Be careful not to 'massage' your worked hours to meet the sixteen hour requirement. When people make up their hours from various sources, HMRC are more likely to ask for you to provide evidence of the amount that you are doing.

Are you not eligible for Income Support? x

Any kind of remunerative work can be counted. I don't understand what "surveys and daily clicks" are, but if it takes up time and earns you money then it can count.

The only thing you can't do for tax purposes is mix the income and expenses from different types of work. For example, if you ran a hairdressing salon and you also ran a nail studio on the same premises you might be able to submit one set of accounts to Inland Revenue because it could be classed as one business - a 'beauty salon' or whatever. But if you ran a hairdressers and an estate agency from one premises they would likely insist you maintain two sets of accounts as the expenses from one business do not relate to the other. The same goes if you try and add lots of unrelated jobs together for claiming Tax Credits, they would probably want details seperately, so more paperwork. BUT as far as the hours rule goes, you can add them all up.

And don't forget - you can legitimitely include any time you spend doing stuff like bookkeeping, accounts, telephoning clients etc. This is not "massaging" figures - so long as you are honest you will be able to justify it.

If you can't justify 16 hours then you might be able to get Income Support, but it is not very hard to earn over the Income Support threshold. Working Tax Credit is more generous so it is worth trying to find the hours.

Hope this helps.

mitchaa

I dont understand how you would have more money to live on

You would be giving up your FT work so where is the money going to come from?? You dont get full childcare paid for, you only get 80% costs meaning you would still need to fund 20% by yourself, but how do you do that with no income?

Daily clicks are worth peanuts as is mystery shopping Do you even make £10 a week from it?

Sounds to me like you want to give up your FT work for an easier life but still want to keep your children in care by ''pretending'' to work:rolleyes: Why cant you care for your own children if you are unemployed, what will you be doing with all your new free time?? Daily clicking??:rolleyes:

It also sounds to me that you are going to struggle BIG TIME to convince anyone of the 16hr rule by daily clicking and mystery shopping. How you can convince and prove to HMRC that you do this 16hrs a week, 52 weeks of the year is beyond me.

mitchaa

astralbee wrote: »

Any kind of remunerative work can be counted. I don't understand what "surveys and daily clicks" are, but if it takes up time and earns you money then it can count.

Are you joking me, some people daily click to make 10p per day:rolleyes: This surely cannot be classed as employment

Why dont all the unemployed use this as an example to qualify for WTC then:rotfl: ??

16hrs per week is only just over 2hrs per day, and its just surfing the web. How do you prove how much time is spent on these daily click websites? I could say i have done it but really i have not, so how do you prove?

If you can be registered as working by clicking on websites and earning 10p per day just so you can qualify for WTC then the world has gone completely bonkers.

I shall suggest this advice to every unemployed person i know, 16hrs of daily clicks means you qualify for WTC:rolleyes:

somebodysmummy

dmg24 wrote: »

I also doubt that surveys and daily clicks would count, as they are not usually counted for income purposes.

Be careful not to 'massage' your worked hours to meet the sixteen hour requirement. When people make up their hours from various sources, HMRC are more likely to ask for you to provide evidence of the amount that you are doing.

Are you not eligible for Income Support? x

Myself and the kids are staying in the 'family home' and hubby is paying the mortgage so I don't qualify for income support / housing benefit, etc.

mitchaa

somebodysmummy wrote: »

Myself and the kids are staying in the 'family home' and hubby is paying the mortgage so I don't qualify for income support / housing benefit, etc.

Are you sure?

As far as i'm aware you would qualify for IS as you would be classed as a single parent.

Its up to your husband if he continues to pay for his mortgage and allow you to live there. I dont see why that should stop you caliming IS?

somebodysmummy

mitchaa wrote: »

I dont understand how you would have more money to live on

You would be giving up your FT work so where is the money going to come from?? You dont get full childcare paid for, you only get 80% costs meaning you would still need to fund 20% by yourself, but how do you do that with no income?

Daily clicks are worth peanuts as is mystery shopping Do you even make £10 a week from it?

Sounds to me like you want to give up your FT work for an easier life but still want to keep your children in care by ''pretending'' to work:rolleyes: Why cant you care for your own children if you are unemployed, what will you be doing with all your new free time?? Daily clicking??:rolleyes:

Where did I say that I was giving up my existing job? I have no intention of giving up my job or putting my children into nursery for any longer than I do now - the hours that I currently work. The point is that I am basically working to pay for childcare but if I could increase my hours to 16 per week without increasing childcare costs then I will be better off financially.

I already do surveys, AQA,Slice the Pie etc for a short amount of time each week but if any of these things could be counted towards my working hours then I could easily spend a few hours each evening doing them, thus earning more money (although I appreciate not a great amount) and qualifying for part of my existing childcare costs to be met. I would therefore be able to pay my bills instead of being subsidised by my husband.

Re the mystery shopping, yes I do make money from it. There have been weeks when I've made nothing but there have also been weeks when I have made £100. It varies greatly, as do the hours worked, but I do make some money from it.

mitchaa

somebodysmummy wrote: »

Where did I say that I was giving up my existing job? I have no intention of giving up my job or putting my children into nursery for any longer than I do now - the hours that I currently work. The point is that I am basically working to pay for childcare but if I could increase my hours to 16 per week without increasing childcare costs then I will be better off financially.

I already do surveys, AQA,Slice the Pie etc for a short amount of time each week but if any of these things could be counted towards my working hours then I could easily spend a few hours each evening doing them, thus earning more money (although I appreciate not a great amount) and qualifying for part of my existing childcare costs to be met. I would therefore be able to pay my bills instead of being subsidised by my husband.

Re the mystery shopping, yes I do make money from it. There have been weeks when I've made nothing but there have also been weeks when I have made £100. It varies greatly, as do the hours worked, but I do make some money from it.

Apologies, silly me not reading things properly:o

I read it as you worked 8hrs per day but this was too much for you so you thought you would quit that and pretend to work 16hrs per week by daily clicking in order to qualify for WTC

I need to wake up:doh:

So you only need to up your working by 8 hrs in order to qualify for WTC? Can you not do an extra half day with your employer and then 4hrs pw mystery shopping?

dmg24

astralbee wrote: »

Any kind of remunerative work can be counted. I don't understand what "surveys and daily clicks" are, but if it takes up time and earns you money then it can count.

No, they definitely do not count. I have double checked this morning (I've got nothing better to do today!), and as there is no contract of employment, or any kind of agreement for services to be provided, it cannot be counted.

somebodysmummy, AQA is taxable income, so would count.