The Mystery Shopping thread - part 6

paulherts

Scaredy

I would contact them, as it does not seem right.

Getting a response will be the next frustration!

Cheers Paul

Freefall

Timmne wrote: »

Working out your profit/loss

There have been lots of people on the old MSing thread asking how to work out their taxable income. Below is a little example of how to do this for each job, with some suggestions of what you could include:

Income (includes all fees and reimbursements): £30.00

Expenses:
Job specific costs (anything you had to pay out as part of the job) (£20.00)
10 miles @ 40p (HMRC’s agreed rate per mile) (£ 4.00)
12 pages printed @ 6p (reasonable cost of printing a page)(£ 0.72)

Profit (income less expenses) £ 5.28

You can also claim expenses against your income such as buying software or small equipment (calculator, diary etc) which aren’t necessarily related to one job.

It’s important to remember though that you can’t take the cost per page for printing from your income AND replacement printer cartridges and paper – it’s one or the other.

Additional point, (thanks to Jobbingmusician!) - When the MS companies state that the fee includes all expenses, it is up to you to work out how much you have actually 'earned', and how much you have legitimately spent on expenses. And yes, it is even possible to make a loss, on paper, for the odd job!

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Surely any money you have had to pay out in the form of the "Test purchase" which is re-imbursed to you by the MS company forms a disbursement on behalf of the MS, which shouldn't appear as either an earning/fee or cost of providing the service. So rather than appearing as a Purchases/Cash transaction then as a Sales/Bank transaction in the ledger it should just appear as money paid out on the MS Co's behalf and then re-imbursed.

S'pose it doesnt make much difference but theoretically it could if you were doing enough to put you over the VAT limit! :P

Timmne

Freefall wrote: »

Surely any money you have had to pay out in the form of the "Test purchase" which is re-imbursed to you by the MS company forms a disbursement on behalf of the MS, which shouldn't appear as either an earning/fee or cost of providing the service. So rather than appearing as a Purchases/Cash transaction then as a Sales/Bank transaction in the ledger it should just appear as money paid out on the MS Co's behalf and then re-imbursed.

S'pose it doesnt make much difference but theoretically it could if you were doing enough to put you over the VAT limit! :P

You're right- doesn't make any difference to the profit but it dies need to be accounted for. It's optional whether to include the reimbursement as income I'd negative expense but for the non accountant, it's definitely easier to do it the way I described, IMO.

ruthiejane

skywalker83 wrote: »

hi does anyone know of mystery shopping on the euro star please?

I believe it is done in house - my sister works for them and had to ask friends and family if they wanted to volunteer to be test passengers when St Pancras opened. TNS and RE do some "air side" visits at St P, Ashford and Ebbsfleet.

sophisticated.

fabsaver wrote: »

You should keep the receipts to support the information you put on your tax return. It is unlikely that the Inland Revenue will ask to see them but it is possible. It is also possible that the MS company may ask to see them. I think (someone will correct me if I am wrong) that you are supposed to keep records for 6 years:eek:

Arghhh! I do most of my MS shops for TNS, all the jobs I've done have needed a receipt sent off/not given a receipt. I'm starting to worry about the tax return already, do they just ask you for your income and expenses for the year?

Scaredy_Cat_3

sophisticated. wrote: »

Arghhh! I do most of my MS shops for TNS, all the jobs I've done have needed a receipt sent off/not given a receipt. I'm starting to worry about the tax return already, do they just ask you for your income and expenses for the year?

Same here, all my TNS receipts have been sent to them. Also there have been car park charges where you get a card out of the machine on entry, and post it back into the machine on exit! So no proof. They'll just have to take my word for it.

I'm hoping it won't be a problem. About 15 years ago my hubby did some freelance photography and I had the pleasure of doing his accounts. I never had to provide receipts, or even a copy of the accounts. I kept my own records of all our income and expenditure, and just put the totals on the tax return. I assume it will be the same now (hope so anyway - otherwise it will be a total nightmare!)

sophisticated.

Thanks Scaredy Cat, I'm glad I'm not the only one I always get myself worked up about silly things like this, also scared I'm keeping account of everything wrongly!

Scaredy_Cat_3

I feel awful now - can someone comfort me???? I've just had a call from an MS company asking me to do a job in a town which is a good 45 mins drive from me. I have this town on my profile because I don't mind going there if I have more than one assignment to make it worthwhile. Last time I went to this town (admittedly it was a couple of months ago as good paying jobs don't come up that often) I had 3 jobs in one day and felt it was worth it.

The lady offered to virtually double the fee but I still didn't feel it was worth it. She said I should remove that postcode from my profile. As I said, now I feel awful. I still want the option of doing jobs in this town because IF I have other work there it would suit me. But I feel a bit like I was being told off, like I shouldn't have it on my profile if I'm not prepared to go there for one job. Am I being over-sensitive?

darlo_fan

sophisticated. wrote: »

Thanks Scaredy Cat, I'm glad I'm not the only one I always get myself worked up about silly things like this, also scared I'm keeping account of everything wrongly!

As long as you keep decent records, detailing all your jobs and expenditure / income then you shouldnt have a problem. What happens is that you do your tax return, proof isnt needed unless they decide yours are books that they will audit. In this instance, you should probably have kept a copy of the receipt, however showing details of your mystery shopping should be enough to satisfy any queries they have.

Also, it should be worth noting, in the same way that you need to keep your records for 6 years, so does the mystery shopping company, and as such you could possibly point the tax man in their direction if proof is needed. After all, they generally wont pay you without the receipt in the first place.

Yorkielass

TNS now accept photocopies of receipts since they went from PAYE to contractors in April, so you can keep the originals like the companies that require a scan of the receipt.

From their FAQs:


Question 2: As we will now have to declare our gross income and also expenses to HMRC, will it now be possible to send you photocopied or scanned in copies of receipts?

I understand that we need to have original receipts of our expenses for the tax man to inspect if required, but normally we send these directly to you.
Answer: We can confirm that TNS Field Ltd Mystery Shopping will be accepting photocopies of receipts in order for you to retain the original. The copy needs to be legible so we can match/check this against the data included in your questionnaire.